New cancer institute opens

St. Francis Medical Center's new Cancer Institute -- which begins seeing patients today -- now means the Cape Girardeau Catholic hospital will offer radiation oncology services for the first time.

St. Francis has hired St. Louis radiation oncologist Dr. Tapan Roy to develop the services. Previously, Roy had a 17-year career with St. Louis University, where he was director, associate professor and professor of Radiation Oncology at the university's school of medicine. Now, he will be developing the cancer treatment center, which is at 14 Doctor's Park.

The cancer center will also offer the region's only Intensity Modulation Radiation Therapy treatment, Roy said.

The hospital already treated cancer with chemotherapy. But IMRT is a new way to administer radiation therapy by attacking cancer cells with thousands of small laser beams rather than a few large, uniform beams that can damage healthy tissue near a tumor.