Cancer Care
Merit Health Central delivers a range of cancer care services, from early screening and preventive education to diagnosis, treatment and recovery. Multidisciplinary care combines technology, medical knowledge and a range of support services to address body, mind and spirit. Caring cancer care professionals are focused on providing patient-centered care.
Patients are people, each with individual needs, concerns and hopes. We have a history of blending a very personal level of care with advanced diagnostic and treatment technologies. We understand what cancer is and what is at stake in the lives of our patients. We take the trust placed in us very seriously.
The history of our cancer care center reflects our commitment. In 1987, Merit Health Central began providing radiation oncology and diagnostic services to community residents. We were the first hospital in Mississippi to offer safer radiation therapy treatments, including X-knife radiosurgery.
In 2001, the cancer care center opened the Robert R. Smith, M.D., Gamma Knife Center, which houses Mississippi’s first Gamma Knife. The Gamma Knife is a radiation tool designed specifically for the non-invasive treatment of malignant and benign brain tumors, including metastatic lesions, functional disorders of the brain such as trigeminal neuralgia, and vascular malformations of the brain.
In 2007, the Gamma Knife Center upgraded a more advanced model. The fully automated unit may reduce treatment times, provide enhanced radiation shielding and treat lesions in any intracranial location.
For more information, please call (601) 376-2074.