Last year, in collaboration with Unity Health Care, Sibley Memorial Hospital, a member of Johns Hopkins Medicine, established a cancer clinic within the Parkside Health Center in NE DC to provide much-needed cancer care to underserved patients in Wards 7 and 8.

Last year, in collaboration with Unity Health Care, Sibley Memorial Hospital, a member of Johns Hopkins Medicine, established a cancer clinic within the Parkside Health Center in NE DC to provide much-needed cancer care to underserved patients in Wards 7 and 8.

Recently, Sibley treated its first cervical cancer patient under this collaboration using highly advanced treatments, technologies and an interdisciplinary team of specialists. The patient received cutting-edge cancer treatments including external beam radiation therapy and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-guided brachytherapy at Sibley Memorial Hospital.  Previously, the patient would need to be transferred to The Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore to receive this treatment. External beam radiation therapy directs X-rays at the cancer from a machine outside the body, much like a conventional X-ray, but more powerful.

MRI-guided brachytherapy, or internal radiation therapy, places a radiation source into the cancer or near it, making the treatment highly localized. This type of radiation only travels a short distance, lessening the impact of radiation exposure to surrounding tissue. MRI or MR guidance can allow the radiation oncologist to precisely localize tumors within the cervix so that doses can be given directly to the tumor.

“Together, these two treatments represent state-of-the-art care in treating gynecological cancers,” said Akila Viswanathan, MD, MPH, interim director of Johns Hopkins radiation oncology and molecular radiation sciences and professor of radiation oncology. “MR guidance allows highly precise imaging of the tumor — allowing radiation to be placed temporarily inside the center of the cancer. This very targeted approach results in less normal tissue side effects than non-MR guided treatment. This technique was established at The Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore in 2016. With the successful opening of the new MR imaging suite in the Johns Hopkins Proton Therapy Center at Sibley Memorial Hospital, we are able to use this new facility to bring cutting-edge care to the residents of the region and beyond.” 

“Thanks to the Unity Health Care and Sibley Memorial Hospital partnership at Parkside Health Center for the detection and treatment of cancer, we’re proud to provide critical cancer services for our patients residing in the eastern end of the city,” said Unity chief executive officer, Vince Keane. “We are pleased to know that as a result of our relationship, we can connect patients to the Johns Hopkins Proton Therapy Center at Sibley, a service previously only available at The Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore.”

Gray added that, “It was exciting to learn that the first patient to use this state-of-the-art treatment for gynecological cancer was a Unity Health Care patient. We look forward to having many more successful outcomes in the future. We are confident that the services offered by Unity Health Care and Sibley Memorial Hospital will be vital in addressing the many needs of our cancer patients living in Wards 7 and 8.”

This program was established in collaboration with Jeffrey Lin, MD, director of Sibley’s Center for Gynecologic Surgery; Andrei Cernea, MD, chair of anesthesia services at Sibley; and Hasan Zia, MD, MBA, interim president and CEO of Sibley Memorial Hospital.

About Sibley Memorial Hospital

Sibley Memorial Hospital, a member of Johns Hopkins Medicine, in Northwest Washington, D.C., has a distinguished history of serving the community since its founding in 1890. As a not-for-profit, full-service, 318-bed community hospital, Sibley offers medical, surgical, intensive care, obstetric, oncology, orthopaedic, skilled nursing inpatient services, and a state-of-the-art 24-hour Emergency Department. Sibley’s campus, with its new patient tower, is also home to the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center, the Johns Hopkins National Proton Therapy Center, Grand Oaks -- an assisted living residence -- a medical building with physician offices and an ambulatory surgery and imaging center. For more information, visit Sibley.org.