Mayo Clinic Announces New Radiation Oncology Facility

Tuesday, December 14, 2004

PHOENIX - Mayo Clinic has announced the opening of the nation's first portable/modular radiation oncology facility at its Phoenix campus near 56th Street and the Loop 101 freeway.

This new facility, in addition to the existing radiation oncology services at the Mayo Clinic campus on Shea Boulevard in Scottsdale, will make it even more convenient for Valley patients to receive cancer-fighting therapies at Mayo.

The 3,000 square-foot facility, built by Florida-based RAD Technology, was constructed using new, cutting-edge technology that allows a fully-functional radiation oncology facility, complete with a shielded vault, exam rooms and offices, to be built using a temporary, modular design. Within the shielded vault is a new state-of-the-art Varian linear accelerator with variable energy photon and electron beams that allows the delivery of sophisticated external beam radiation, including IMRT and 3-D conformal treatments. "The facility will serve as a bridge to a planned permanent expansion space on our Phoenix campus," said Dr. Leonard Gunderson, Chair of the Department of Radiation Oncology at Mayo Clinic.

In addition to reducing the construction time, this modular technology provides options that were never before available to expand, modify or upgrade a radiation treatment facility without any interruption in patient care.

The new radiation oncology facility has the potential to increase the number of Valley patients who can benefit from receiving therapy under the careful guidance of Mayo radiation oncology physicians, and emphasizes Mayo's ongoing commitment to providing innovative treatment strategies and supportive care that make medical care as effective and convenient as possible. Each of the radiation oncology physicians has two to three areas of major disease-site interest, thus resulting in sub-specialization (see web site at http://www.mayoclinic.org/radiationoncology-sct/ for more information, including a list of physicians and clinical publications). This sub-specialization offers patients a greater degree of experience and knowledge in the evaluation and treatment of their specific cancer type.

The Mayo Clinic Cancer Center is the only National Cancer Institute (NCI) designated comprehensive cancer center in the Phoenix metropolitan area, and is also the NCI's only multi-site cancer center (including Mayo's locations in Rochester, Minn., and Jacksonville, Fla.). The NCI designation recognizes Mayo as demonstrating clinical excellence in treating cancer patients and scientific excellence in research programs. More than 16,000 new cancer patients come to Mayo Clinic Cancer Center for treatment every year. Cutting edge experimental treatments are available to patients at each of the Mayo Clinic Cancer Center facilities.

###

To obtain the latest news releases from Mayo Clinic, go to www.mayoclinic.org/news. MayoClinic.com is available as a resource for your health stories.