MARCH 13, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

TRI-STATE REGIONAL CANCER CENTER
AWARDED AMERICAN COLLEGE OF RADIOLOGY
ACCREDITATION

Tri-State Regional Cancer Center in Ashland, KY has been awarded a three-year accreditation in Radiation Oncology as a result of a recent survey by the American College of Radiology (ACR).  The ACR awards accreditation to facilities for the achievement of high practice standards after a peer-review evaluation of the practice. Evaluations are conducted by board-certified physicians and medical physicists who are experts in the field. They assess the qualifications of the personnel and the adequacy of facility equipment. The surveyors report their findings to the ACR’s Committee on facility equipment.

Tri-State Regional Cancer Center was surveyed and subsequently accredited by the Committee on Radiation Oncology Accreditation of the Commission on Quality and Safety earlier this year. Tri-State Regional Cancer Center is the only cancer treatment facility in the Tri-State to currently have this accreditation.

"This is an important milestone for our Cancer Center," says Dr. Jeffrey Lopez, MD, Director of Tri-State Regional Cancer Center. "This accreditation is the product of a tremendous amount of work, financial commitment to state of the art equipment and dedication to quality patient care on the part of Dr. Terry Justice and our entire staff.  This is just one part of our continuing process of improving the care we provide to our patients."

Tri-State Regional Cancer Center provides comprehensive Radiation Oncology services to patients throughout Eastern Kentucky, Southern Ohio and Western West Virginia. Radiation Oncology, also known as radiation therapy, is defined as the use of high energy x-rays or particles to treat cancer patients and some benign conditions. The goal of radiation therapy is to kill the cancer cells while sparing the normal surrounding tissue. Radiation therapy may be used alone, or combined with other treatments such as chemotherapy and/or surgery. Tri-State Regional Cancer Center offers advanced treatment techniques, such as: 3-Dimensional Conformal Radiation Therapy, Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT), Image Guided Radiation Therapy (IGRT), Stereotactic Radiosurgery (SRS), Respiratory Gating, Radioactive Iodine/Palladium/Cesium Seed Implants for Prostate Cancer, Brachytherapy for Gynecologic and Thoracic Cancer, Stereotactic Radiosurgery for Brain Tumors, and Intravascular Brachytherapy. For more information on these treatments or about Tri-State Regional Cancer Center services, just go to www.tsrcc.com. 

The ACR is a national organization serving more than 32,000 diagnostic-interventional radiologists, radiation oncologists, and nuclear medicine and medical physicists with programs focusing on the practice of medical imaging and radiation oncology and the delivery of comprehensive healthcare services. Their website is www.acr.org.

Contact:
Lori Bush 800-225-8161 or 606-329-0060