Stereotactic Radiosurgery

Baptist Health Paducah: Stereotactic Radiosurgery

Oncologist PETER LOCKEN, MD and neurosurgeon THOMAS GRUBER discuss advanced radiation therapy, a faster, more efficient way to target cancerous tumors, sparing healthy tissue.

Stereotactic Radiosurgery Health Talks Transcript

Peter E. Locken, MD


We’re very proud of our cancer program at Baptist Health Paducah. We have outside organizations come in and evaluate our program and compare them to other programs in the country. In the last decade, we have consistently ranked in the top two percent of accredited programs, which is only a small fraction of the programs across the nation.

Thomas J. Gruber, MD


Stereotactic radiosurgery is a new type of radiation therapy that we’re offering here at Baptist. It allows us to precisely target tumor tissue with the idea that we can spare the regular tissue around it from a very high dose of radiation. The treatment typically takes several minutes, maybe an hour, depending on the extent of the treatment, with little or no side effects. This treatment means to patients that it is less toxic than our traditional radiation treatments. It can be done in a much faster and more efficient manner, which will change the duration of a radiation treatment for a patient that may have lasted weeks before, to only a few days or even a single day, in some patients.

Peter E. Locken, MD


Not many communities our size have the type of cancer program, the level of cancer program that we have here. What we want to do is take care of the healthcare needs of the good people of western Kentucky, southern Illinois and surrounding areas, and that’s what it is. The comprehensive cancer center will allow us to have a place that our patients can come to from Paducah and surrounding areas and that’s where they come to get their cancer care.