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La. (WAFB) – Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Care Center and Our Lady of the Lake announced a new radiation oncology partnership. The two organizations split five years ago
Our Lady of the Lake President and CEO EJ Kuiper said the split happened before his time
“Before my time, the two organizations kind of stepped away from each other. And the big losers in that particular dynamic were the cancer patients,” Kuiper said
As part of the partnership, Our Lady of the Lake will make investments in Mary Bird Perkins’ radiation therapy program
“We’re going to invest $70 million in our cancer center, as Jonas referred to. I am really excited about this opportunity and very much look forward to where this might go,” Kuiper said. “This is a great day for Baton Rouge, a bad day for cancer.”
Mary Bird Perkins President and CEO Jonas Fontenot said the initial investment is $10 million, located on the first floor of the radiation oncology department on Our Lady of the Lake’s campus. Fontenot said the department will serve the entire campus for radiation oncology
Fontenot said Mary Bird Perkins opened in 1971 as the Mary Bird Perkins Radiation Treatment Center, and radiation oncology has remained core to the organization for 55 years. He said Mary Bird Perkins and Our Lady of the Lake will continue to operate separately in other areas of cancer care
Our Lady of the Lake is continuing work on its Cancer Institute, and Mary Bird Perkins is continuing its expansion of oncology services throughout the state
Fontenot said the partnership with Our Lady of the Lake is limited to radiation therapy. He said Mary Bird Perkins will continue its other partnerships and collaborations, including with Baton Rouge General, Woman’s, and Franklin Medical Center. Fontenot also said Mary Bird Perkins will continue to operate under One Oncology, a management services organization from which it purchases services
Fontenot said collaboration between caregivers at both organizations continued despite the split
“Collaboration among caregivers, healthcare providers at Mary Bird and at the lake, that never stopped,” Fontenot said
The partnership centers on expanding access to adaptive radiation therapy, technology that can reshape a cancer patient’s treatment plan in real time
Fontenot said Mary Bird Perkins made its first investment in adaptive radiation therapy two years ago using the Unity MRI-guided linear accelerator system. He said the new investment will add a CT-based adaptive platform and an online adaptive replanning component, which he said could be implemented within six months
Dr. Jingya Wang, a radiation oncologist, described the technology and how it compares to the previous approach
“So what this new adaptive platform we’re talking about is really the next evolution of precision radiation oncology treatment,” Wang said. “It allows us to now have technology that images the patient every single day, whether it’s CT-based or MRI-based, in a more high-definition precision manner so we can see the anatomy changes. And if that anatomy changes, we can do something about it. It allows us to replan the radiation within 10 to 15 minutes.”
Wang said the previous method required removing a patient from the treatment table, obtaining a new diagnostic scan, and waiting two to three days for a new radiation plan. She said the current MRI-based adaptive program has primarily been used for genitourinary cancers, including prostate, bladder, and kidney cancer, as well as GI cancers such as gastric or pancreatic cancer
Fontenot said the new technology will be better suited for patients with head and neck cancer, certain bladder cancers, and certain lung cancers
Wang said the adaptive platform has allowed doctors to deliver higher radiation doses to pancreatic tumors while protecting surrounding tissue, achieving local control and survival rates she said are comparable to a Whipple surgery
Doctors said the new equipment should be ready for patients by spring or summer of 2027
“Now, with investment from the lake, we can offer that at home so that patients don’t have to go anywhere else,” Wang said
Leaders on both sides said the partnership is about making sure cancer patients do not have to navigate two separate systems
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