By Tammy Gay

"When a patient is ill, the drive to and from Lexington can seem twice as long as it actually is. We're trying to bring the treatment closer to the patients."

-- Mohammed Mohiuddin, MD.,
professor and chair of the Departments of Radiation Medicine and Radiology, UK College of Medicine

April 15, 2002 (Lexington, Ky.) -- The University of Kentucky Chandler Medical Center today broke ground on a new outpatient cancer treatment center for patients in Scott and surrounding counties. Kentucky Clinic Georgetown Cancer Treatment Center, located at 1140 Lexington Road, adjacent to Georgetown Community Hospital, is a collaborative effort of the University of Kentucky Markey Cancer Center and Georgetown Community Hospital.

The Center is targeted to be open in winter 2002. UK has collaborated with other community hospitals in Berea, Maysville and Somerset to open cancer treatment centers closer to patients' homes.

"When a patient is ill, the drive to and from Lexington can seem twice as long as it actually is," said Mohammed Mohiuddin, M.D., professor and chair of the Departments of Radiation Medicine and Radiology, UK College of Medicine. "We're trying to bring the treatment closer to the patients."

The Department of Radiation Medicine at the UK College of Medicine and Kentucky Medical Services Foundation, Inc. funded the building, which will be a 3,000 to 3,500 square-foot brick building that will feature a linear accelerator, a simulator, a mold room, exam rooms and offices. The accelerator, which will be housed in a cement vault with walls up to eight feet thick, treats tumors with an external beam of radiation.

Patients are prepared for treatment in the simulator, where X-rays of the tumor are taken and a special computer system is used to plan the patient's treatment. Molds of the area to be treated then are poured in the mold room.

As many as 35 patients can be treated per day at the clinic, which will be staffed by a radiation medicine physician, a radiation therapist and a receptionist.