The Department of Radiation Oncology of the USA Mitchell Cancer Institute is an academic center whose mission is to develop and provide state of the art cancer therapies for patients from the central gulf coast. The department consists of multiple facilities that offer unique, as well as standard treatments, for a variety of cancer types and locations in the human body. The provision of this care is made possible by a team of highly trained physicians, nurses, physicists, dosimetrists, radiation therapists, and administrative personnel. In addition, the multidisciplinary approach to cancer diagnosis, treatment, and follow up is achieved through specialty clinics, subspecialization of radiation oncologists, and participation in tumor conferences. These conferences are inclusive of pharmacists, social workers, nutritionists, pain management specialists, oncology nurses, and patient navigators.

Centers within the department have been developed to address specific technologies such as IMRT, IGRT, SRS, SBRT, and Brachytherapy. The centers treat cancers of the breast, lung, head and neck, brain, liver, stomach, pancreas, spine, uterus, cervix, vagina, bladder, rectum, anus, prostate, skin, and soft tissues. The CyberKnife Robotic System permits treatment of many of these sites with submillimeter accuracy, which limits collateral damage to critical normal tissue. For larger tumors or volumes harboring microscopic disease, TomoTherapy and Varian 23iX are excellent choices.

Not all malignant disease is best handled with external beam therapy. Intracavitary brachytherapy using a high dose rate iridium-192 radioactive source provides intense radiation to endobronchial, uterine, cervical, and vaginal malignancies. Low dose rate techniques permit interstitial implants of skin, lip, neck, tongue, and prostate carcinomas. Certain skin cancers in the cosmetic areas of the face, such as the nose, eyelids, or ears, require superficial x-ray techniques or surface applicators which employ HDR brachytherapy.

The CyberKnife and TomoTherapy Center is located on the ground floor of the USA Mitchell Cancer Institute. This Center additionally contains a 20 slice Siemens CT open Simulator/scanner and a 64 slice open Phillips PET/CT scanner.

The Radiation Oncology Clinic (ROC) of the USA MCI is located on the ground floor of Mobile Infirmary DeBakey Professional Office Building. This Center houses 3 Varian linear accelerators including 23iX, 21EX, and 6 MV units. They have been fitted with cone beam CT, on board imaging, and respiratory gating, as well as multileaf collimation (MLC). A brachytherapy suite contains superficial x-ray, Nucletron microselectron HDR unit, and Varian Acuity digital simulator with CT imaging. A separate wide bore, 16 slice CT simulator is also available.

We look forward to being of assistance to you during your cancer journey. Please contact us to arrange an appointment with one of our radiation oncologists.