New radiation clinics realize dreams, plansby Heather WoolwinePublic Relations MUSC’s Department of Radiation Oncology opened new doors in Georgetown, and will open more at a new Mount Pleasant site and in an upcoming move to the Hollings Cancer Center. “The new clinics at Georgetown and Mount Pleasant are the product of 10 years worth of dreaming and planning,” said Buddy Jenrette, M.D., Radiation Oncology's interim chairman. “These locations really change the depth and reach of our department. We started with a basic idea to offer the community better opportunities for service and have improved our thought processes and methods a lot along the way.” Jenrette described a three-phase initiative that began with the opening of an MUSC-affiliated radiation oncology clinic in Georgetown in February. Formed through an agreement with Georgetown Memorial Hospital, it’s equipped to perform upwards of 95 percent of services any other clinic, including MUSC, can provide cancer patients. An initial benefit for Georgetown Memorial was the automatic high-tech status that accompanied the new radiation center, which would have taken the hospital more time to build on its own. “Prior to the Georgetown clinic, patients had to drive into Myrtle Beach or Charleston for treatment,” Jenrette said. “The inconvenience associated with Myrtle Beach’s traffic and congestion was horrendous for those patients. With the new center at Georgetown, medical oncology and a majority of radiation oncology services are in the same building, which not only serves to benefit patients but also provides physicians who treat there an easy way to synergize.” Jenrette and the radiation oncology staff believe in the MUSC concept of outreach and the idea that bringing technology and advanced treatment closer to any patient is a positive step. “What we’re doing with our outreach clinics helps us fulfill the MUSC mission through community-based practice. It also presents a challenge for our students to broaden their patient base as they venture into different communities and study different ways of life and courses of treatment,” he said. Another attractive location for increased efforts in advanced medical technology and treatment, Mount Pleasant was a logical choice for the second phase of the department’s plan. By November, the MUSC radiation center on the East Cooper Regional Medical Center campus will open across the street from an MUSC oncology clinic. “The idea that patients will be able to receive a chemotherapy infusion and then walk down a sidewalk to receive radiation is an attractive prospect from every point of view,” Jenrette said. “And because of the variety of oncology services already offered in the same area, we are creating opportunities for clinical trials to take place.” A third phase in radiation oncology’s efforts is the move to the Hollings Cancer Center, slated for next summer. With the majority of clinical exam rooms and treatment areas scheduled to relocate to the newly constructed infrastructure, the move will allow for more interdisciplinary collaboration between radiation oncology and other departments who treat cancer patients. While the current and future Medical Center site will render the most complicated treatment methods (e.g., bone marrow transplant preparation and treatment for small brain tumors), the equipment and services offered in Georgetown, Mount Pleasant and MUSC will be identical. “We are continually looking for and acquiring new technology,” Jenrette
said. “Things have changed a lot in the 24 years that I’ve been a part
of this field. It’s really a lovely form of medicine where we must constantly
reinvent ourselves to provide the best in radiation care and treatment
for our patients.”
Friday, Sept. 3, 2004
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