About Cancer Program

Shady Grove Adventist Hospital is designated as an accredited Cancer Program with Commendation by the American College of Surgeons (ACoS). It is among only 25% of U.S. hospitals to be accredited with commendation by the Commission on Cancer (CoC ). This distinction signifies the quality care provided to patients by Shady Grove Adventist Hospital’s cancer care program.

The oncology program at Shady Grove is one of 1,400 oncology programs in the country approved as a Community Hospital Comprehensive Cancer Program by the American College of Surgeons.

Shady Grove’s Nuclear Medicine Services received a three-year term of accreditation in computed tomography (CT), or CAT scanning, by the American College of Radiology (ACR). The accreditation is given to facilities that provide the highest level of image quality and patient safety.

This ACR Gold Seal of Accreditation means the Nuclear Medicine department underwent a rigorous peer-review by board-certified physicians and expert medical physicists on image quality, personnel qualifications, adequacy of facility equipment, quality control procedures and quality assurance programs.

Nuclear medicine is a branch of medical imaging that uses small amounts of radioactive material, ingested by the patient, to diagnose and treat a variety of disease, including many types of cancers and heart disease. Nuclear medicine procedures can help patients avoid surgery or more invasive diagnostic tests, and often identifies abnormalities very early in the progression of a disease.

Approximately two-thirds of people battling cancer will have radiation therapy. Shady Grove Adventist Hospital offers two convenient locations for these patients in Rockville and Germantown.

The Shady Grove Adventist Radiation Oncology Center at Rockville is accredited by the American College of Radiology (ACR). The Germantown center will acquire ACR accreditation when it becomes eligible in the summer of 2012. Only 15 percent of centers in the U.S. are ACR accredited. Both the Rockville and Germantown centers provide state-of-the-art equipment for the latest advances in treatment, including:

• Elekta Synergic Linear Accelerator
• Cone Beam
• Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT)
• Image Guided Radiation Therapy (IGRT)
• CT Simulation technology
• Transperineal Interstitial Brachytherapy (Prostate Seed Implants)
• Coming in the summer of 2012
  • Sterostatic Radiosurgery/Treatment (SRS/SRT)
  • High Dose Rate (HDR) Radiation

Shady Grove Adventist Hospital’s oncology unit is well staffed with chemotherapy certified nurses. Chemotherapy certification signifies that a nurse has met or exceeded rigorous criteria for knowledge and experience and possesses a measured competency. Each has attended hours of intense curriculum to become certified for administering chemotherapy.

In addition, the center is staffed with oncology certified nurses (OCNs), certified by the Oncology Nursing Certification Corporation of the Oncology Nursing Society, an international professional organization for oncology nurses.

Table of Contents:

• Chairman's Message
• 2011 Cancer Committee
• Focus on Colon Cancer
• Primary Site Distribution
• Download Full 2011 Report