Radiation Oncology

Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center Blog

Read the latest news, information and stories from Mayo Clinic's cancer experts and patients

Experts in radiation oncology at Mayo Clinic treat about 13,000 people who have a wide variety of cancers each year. Radiation oncologists work closely with medical oncologists, surgeons and other doctors to coordinate the most appropriate care for you.

Radiation therapy uses carefully targeted and regulated doses of high-energy radiation to kill cancer cells. Radiation causes some cancer cells to die immediately after treatment, but most die or become incapacitated as a result of the radiation-induced damage to the cancer cell's chromosomes and DNA.

• Experience and advanced technology. Mayo Clinic's radiation therapy services combine the quality and capability of state-of-the-art equipment with the expertise and compassion of the medical staff.
• Specialized skills. Each radiation oncologist has specialized training in performing radiation treatment for people with cancer and those with certain noncancerous (benign) conditions. The doctors further specialize by concentrating their individual practices on treating different types of cancers, including complex and rare cancers. This specialized expertise ensures precision treatment and improved outcomes.
• Treatment tailored to your needs. Mayo Clinic's radiation oncology professionals tailor treatment to your needs. After the radiation oncologist identifies the areas to be treated, radiation is directed to the cancerous tumors to minimize the dose of radiation to normal tissues.
• Comprehensive cancer center. Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center meets strict standards for a National Cancer Institute comprehensive cancer center, which recognizes scientific excellence, a strong research program and a multidisciplinary approach to cancer prevention, diagnosis and treatment.
• Innovative clinical research studies. Clinical research studies designed by Mayo Clinic researchers and others are available to eligible people with cancer. Clinical studies provide the opportunity to participate in the newest and most innovative investigative programs that may offer the greatest hope for the most difficult cancer problems.

Radiation oncology services are provided to children at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, and Phoenix/Scottsdale, Arizona.

Many Mayo Clinic Health System facilities also provide radiation oncology services. Staff at Mayo Clinic's campus in Minnesota care for people at several regional clinics and hospitals each day.

Mayo Clinic Health System clinics, hospitals and health care facilities serve more than 60 communities in Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin. These sites provide radiation oncology care to their local communities.

Advanced radiation treatments by location

Arizona

Mayo Clinic in Phoenix has the only proton beam treatment facility in Arizona. It offers advanced radiation therapy for adults and children.

The facility has four treatment rooms with pencil beam scanning. This technology allows radiation oncologists to shape the radiation dose to the tumor with precision.

The program combines advanced technology with radiation oncology expertise to treat people with complex cancers. Proton beam therapy may be especially helpful for children and young adults because it can limit radiation to healthy, developing tissue.

As part of Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center, the proton beam program connects patients with specialists across cancer specialties and access to Mayo Clinic’s broader expertise in cancer care.

Florida

Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida, expanded radiation oncology services into the Duan Family Building in July 2025. In addition to photon radiation therapy, the facility offers advanced radiation therapies and plans to begin proton beam therapy in early 2027.

Experts designed the new proton system to use 360-degree treatment technology and daily adaptive treatment planning. This means the care team can adjust the treatment plan each day as a tumor shrinks or shifts. These changes help keep radiation focused on the cancer while limiting exposure to nearby healthy tissue.

Mayo Clinic plans to begin carbon ion radiation therapy in early 2028. It will be the first clinical carbon ion therapy program in the Americas. Carbon ions can damage cancer cells that resist other types of radiation while limiting damage to nearby healthy tissue.

Carbon ions also may cause an immune response. They may mean fewer treatments for some people.

Offering photon, proton and carbon ion therapy in one program gives care teams more ways to tailor treatment to each person’s cancer and needs.

Minnesota

Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, is expanding proton beam therapy to help more people get this precise treatment. Mayo Clinic plans to open two more proton treatment rooms in summer 2027. Mayo Clinic expects the new rooms to serve about 900 more patients each year.

Proton beam therapy targets tumors while limiting radiation to nearby healthy tissue. This may be especially important when cancer is near sensitive organs or when limiting radiation to healthy tissue is a priority.

For some people in Minnesota and Wisconsin, radiation oncology care may be available closer to home through Mayo Clinic locations connected with the Rochester, Minnesota, Department of Radiation Oncology. Locations include Albert Lea, Mankato, Northfield, Eau Claire and La Crosse.

Mayo Clinic in Minnesota also offers re-irradiation for some people whose cancer has returned or who may need more radiation treatment options. Doctors use detailed treatment planning to decide whether another course of radiation may be possible while limiting radiation to nearby healthy tissue.

Mayo Clinic researchers are studying whether heat treatment may help people with advanced cancers that have resisted other treatments. This treatment, called hyperthermia, uses heat to damage cancer cells. Early results suggest combining hyperthermia with radiation may improve treatment results.

Researchers continue to study hyperthermia and other emerging approaches in clinical trials for people with complex cancers.

Specialty groups

The Department of Radiation Oncology at Mayo Clinic offers special disease and condition-related groups, which bring together the expertise of many specialists to evaluate and treat people with cancer and to conduct research. Teams of specialists are organized based on the location of the cancer.

Board-certified radiation oncologists are members of each disease site team:

• Bone marrow or stem cell transplant
• Breast
• Central nervous system (brain, spinal cord, neurological)
• Endocrine (thyroid, parathyroid, adrenal, pituitary)
• Gastrointestinal (anus, colon, rectum, esophagus, hepatobiliary, pancreas, stomach)
• Genitourinary (bladder, kidney, prostate, penis, testis, ureter)
• Gynecologic (cervix, ovary, uterus, vagina, vulva)
• Head and neck (nasopharynx, nasal cavity and sinuses, oral cavity, oropharynx, hypopharynx, larynx, salivary gland)
• Lung
• Lymphoma, leukemia and myeloma
• Melanoma
• Other skin cancers (squamous cell, basal cell, Merkel cell)
• Ophthalmology (orbital tumors, ocular melanoma)
• Pediatric cancers
• Sarcoma (bone, soft tissue, abdominal)

Each disease site team is independent, but all teams work together to develop diagnostic and treatment procedures, and guidelines for patient evaluation and care.