Keck : Department of Radiation Oncology : About the Department : Facilities

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The USC Department of Radiation Oncology provides the professional leadership to several hospital-based radiation oncology centers. Under this design, a faculty radiation oncologist is the Director or Chief Physician of the radiation therapy facility. One or more faculty radiation oncologists may be assigned to staff the facility. In addition, the USC Department of Radiation Oncology provides the professional medical physics services to these radiation therapy centers. Overall, a high degree of quality and sophistication in patient management is assured.

The USC Department of Radiation Oncology maintains its academic and administrative headquarters in the Division of Radiation Oncology at the USC/Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center and Hospital.

Each of the clinical units has its own criteria for admitting patients for radiation oncology services. These are based on the policies of the respective medical centers.

Some patients may be transferred from one facility to another within the USC Department of Radiation Oncology for more specialized treatments such as stereotactic radiosurgery, HDR brachytherapy, hyperthermia, among some examples. Allowance for this is determined by the policies and limitations of the individual health plans of the patient. Nevertheless, the radiation oncologists of the USC Department of Radiation Oncology strive to deliver the best possible, state-of-the-art radiation therapy care under the prevailing circumstances.

Norris Cancer Hospital
Division of Radiation Oncology
Oscar Streeter, Jr., M.D.,
Chief Physician

The 60-bed, USC/Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center and Hospital is a National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center. The environment is unique with basic research and clinical operation in the same building allowing opportunities for translational research. Emphasis is placed on multi-disciplinary, state-of-the-art cancer patient management as well as clinical research involving the surgical, medical and radiation oncologic subspecialties. Private patients are typically referred to the Norris Cancer Hospital from community hospitals and other health centers as well as from the USC University Hospital.

The Norris Division of Radiation Oncology is one of the most modern in Southern California, operating a Varian Clinac 2300C/D liner accelerator with a multi-leaf collimator (MLC) and electronic portal imaging (EPI) and a Varian Clinac 4/100 4-MeV linear accelerator. For radiotherapy simulation, it uses a Varian Ximatron with CT option and a Siemens CT scanner. It also has the BSD 2000 Sigma-60 hyperthermia device in addition to other, specialized treatment devices manufactured in-house. The hospital has installed a Nucletron LDR-Selectron and a Varian VariSource high dose-rate unit replaced its Omnitron predecessor. A variety of highly advanced treatment planning computer systems are used including the ADAC Pinnacle3 planning system, and others which are a direct outgrowth of the pioneering clinical and physics research efforts of the USC Radiation Oncology Faculty. True 3-D virtual simulation and isodose planning, allowing for 3-D conformal radiotherapy treatments, is routinely employed. The Norris Division of Radiation Oncology continues to retain its leadership position through timely additions to its technology.

The Division of Radiation Oncology Research under the direction of Oscar Streeter, M.D., is based at USC/NCH Radiation Oncology. Participation in clinical research protocols of national, co-operative programs such as the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG) (Oscar Streeter, M.D.), Southwest Oncology Group (SWOG), Co-operative Ocular Melanoma Study (CMOS) (Zbigniew Petrovich, M.D.) or the Gynecology Oncology Group (GOG) (Vaclav Klement, M.D.) are conducted by this Division. The start of any new approach to managing a specific cancer is here.

Supporting the clinical research effort is the Division of Radiation Oncology Physics under Melvin A. Astrahan, Ph.D. Since 1983, the division’s medical physicists have contributed innovative approaches in radiation oncology. Their major accomplishments include the refinement of stereotactic radiosurgery to the brain using the linear accelerator; the development of the episcleral eye plaque and dosimetry software; design and construction of the prototype transurethral hyperthermia (TUHT) applicator for management of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH); and more recently, software development and programming for 3D treatment planning and 3D conformal radiotherapy.

USC/Kenneth Norris Jr. Comprehensive
Cancer Center & Hospital

USC University Hospital
Gamma Knife Unit
Zbigniew Petrovich, M.D., &
Michael L. J. Apuzzo, M.D.,
Co-Directors

Radiation oncologists based at the USC/Norris Cancer Center are also on the attending staff at USC University Hospital. In the summer of 1994, USC University Hospital commissioned its first Leksell Gamma Knife. The current Gamma Knife model C was commissioned in June 2000. For more information, please visit the USC Gamma Knife Unit Web page. {3.12.1}

USC University Hospital

LAC+USC Medical Center
Dept. of Radiation Oncology
Medical Director
Vaclav Klement, M.D., Ph.D.,

LAC+USC Radiation Oncology Department is the hub of the Department's training program, in one of this country's largest clinical teaching institutions with 983 beds currently budgeted. The USC Department of Radiation Oncology provides the faculty for the LAC-USC Department of Radiation Oncology, located in the Outpatient Department of the LAC-USC Medical Center.

The LAC-USC Department of Radiation Oncology was extensively re-equipped in 1992. New Varian Clinac 6/100S linear accelerator, Varian Clinac 2100C dual-energy linear accelerator and Ximatron radiotherapy simulator were installed while an older Varian Clinac was retained. The treatment planning computers were also upgraded. Gynecologic brachytherapy procedures are performed in the Children's and Women's Hospital of the LAC-USC Medical Center. These procedures include both manual afterloading as well as remote afterloading using a dual Nucletron LDR-Selectron.

LAC+USC Radiation Oncology is a busy facility. Since the LAC+USC Medical Center remains the only major, public hospital in the Northeast Cluster of Los Angeles County with cancer patient management capabilities, its truly medically indigent population receives, perhaps, the best modern cancer care possible, second to none in the United States.

LAC+USC Medical Center

Childrens Hospital Los Angeles
Division of Radiation Oncology
Robert S. Lavey, M.D.,
Medical Director

The Division of Radiation Oncology at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA) is affiliated with the USC Department of Radiation Oncology. This hospital is the headquarters for the Children's Cancer Study Group and provides a unique opportunity for pediatric radiation oncology. In 1996, Childrens Hospital Los Angeles refurbished its radiotherapy suite with a customized Varian Clinac 2100 and in 1997 with a Varian Ximatron and Nucletron Plato treatment planning system, making it the most modern dedicated, pediatric radiation oncology facility in California and one of the largest pediatric radiation oncology facilities in the United States.

The USC Department of Radiation Oncology retains responsibility for the academic component in radiation oncology at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles.

Childrens Hospital
Los Angeles