Vernon Barrow, MD, of Premier Radiology interprets diffusion tensor imaging showing nerve tracking on the 3 Tesla MRI at Premier Imaging in Starkville.

Starkville Practice Opens Unique Outpatient Cancer Center

STARKVILLE–The Cancer Care at Premier Health Complex, a comprehensive cancer treatment facility located in Starkville, offers Golden Triangle patients a new approach to cancer treatment.

Completed in November 2009, the complex represents an expansion of an existing facility, which houses physician offices, laboratory services, radiology or imaging services, including ultra high field 3-Tesla MRI technology, 64-slice CT scan for advanced imaging, 4D ultrasound, fluoroscopy and radiography.

Cancer Care signals the area's first stand-alone comprehensive cancer treatment facility and houses clinics for medical oncology provided by Tupelo-based Hematology and Oncology Associates and radiation therapy services supplied by Radiation Oncology of North Mississippi.

More than 300 residents attended the grand opening celebration last spring, including 100 cancer survivors, their family and friends, local business leaders and healthcare professionals. Among them: Former leukemia patient Bernice Edwards and her husband, Bobby.

Six years ago, Charles Montgomery, MD, a founding member of Hematology and Oncology Associates, had told Edwards, then 65 and suffering from leukemia, to be prepared for the possibility of having only a few weeks to live. After many chemotherapy treatments, her leukemia slipped into remission.

"They didn't think I was going to make it, but Dr. Montgomery didn't give up on me," Edwards told The Dispatch.

Established in 1979 with two physicians, Hematology and Oncology Associates is now the region's leading oncology physician group, with half a dozen physicians—Montgomery, Julian Hill, MD, Andrew Kellum, MD, Christopher Croot, MD, David Morris, MD, and Gideon Ewing, MD—practicing medicine at offices located in Corinth, Tupelo and Starkville. Services include chemotherapy, lab services, and access to clinical trials for new treatment therapies or modalities and other cancer and blood-related disorder treatments.

Before Cancer Care opened, area cancer patients spent hours traveling round trip to a similar stand-alone facility or hospital-type facilities where access from the parking lot was more difficult and the wait for services was significantly longer.

"As an outpatient facility, it's rather unique," said Montgomery. "Now patients don't have to travel from place to place. And Cancer Care has all these services under one roof—hematology and oncology physicians, lab tests, advanced imaging, chemotherapy and radiation treatment."

Ray Reed, MD, a radiation oncologist with Radiation Oncology of North Mississippi, said by having cancer treatment services under one roof, "patients ... can focus on what really matters most and that's taking control of their cancer and getting well."

"Patients shouldn't have to drive a long way to receive advanced care for cancer and blood disorders," added Hill. "We wanted to make state-of-the-art care within easy reach of patients in this area. That's why we opened this office in Starkville."

Bert Duncan, MD, who began working as a radiation oncologist in Tupelo in 1988, is on staff at Radiation Oncology of North Mississippi, along with Reed, who joined the practice in 1993, and Micah Monaghan, MD, who joined the group last July.

Reed pointed out that Cancer Care's Varian IX Linear Accelerator is equipped with highly advanced technology—intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT), On-Board Imaging, and RapidArc.

"Each of these advanced applications work together to make sure the radiation dose is delivered as accurately and quickly as possible," he said. "For instance, RapidArc technology makes it possible to complete a treatment that used to take 15 to 20 minutes in as little as two minutes. This means that patients receive minimal radiation exposure to normal tissue, less chance of side effects, and better outcomes for their treatment."

Cancer Care's collaborative partnership between Mississippi State University researchers and the radiation oncology, hematology and oncology, and radiology physicians, fueled the expansion efforts. The partnership, which began six years ago, also involves the staff and new high-tech equipment in the complex.

"Faculty and students at Mississippi State University can utilize the advanced technology, equipment and professional medical expertise at Cancer Care to advance their learning and research initiatives," said Cancer Care spokesperson Jean-Marie Carroll. "This unique partnership with MSU allows virtually any department or program on campus to utilize not only our Radiation Therapy Department but all imaging equipment."

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