A rural woman’s breast cancer journal

I just read in the latest issue of AARP magazine about a new treatment advance called image-guided radiation therapy.  A doctor was quoted as saying, “I would guess almost everyone living in the U.S. is now within an hour of a center that has this.”   The system is supposed to give radiologists a more accurate picture of a tumor, which allows them to target it more accurately and reduces the number of treatments needed. 

Not only is our area not within an hour of a treatment center with image-guided radiation therapy, it is at least 2 hours to the nearest radiation treatment center of any kind.   I’m thinking there are lots of rural places that are not within one hour of treatment. 

The first radiation oncologist I saw said treatment was 5 days a week for 6 weeks, but it only took a few minutes, so I would have the rest of the day free.  Yes, I said, unless you counted the 5 hours it would take to drive there and back.

She said,

Oh, yes. There is that.

WWAMI Rural Health Research Center  has several access to care studies, including rural access to radiation oncology centers. 

This study will use cancer registry data from 10 U.S. states to examine which rural cancer patients are receiving recommended radiation therapy and what factors influence receipt of recommended treatment. Identifying gaps in radiation therapy will inform cancer centers, rural program planners, and policy makers in rural cancer service location and cancer support program development. This project is expected to be completed by August 2008.