Research
About Our Research Programs
The Department of Radiation Oncology Research Division is centered at the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center. Clinical research focuses on testing new therapies for cancer, optimizing existing treatments, discovering prevention methods and developing ways to improve the quality of life for both healthy individuals and those living with cancer.
Current Research
The Department of Radiation Oncology is an active participant in various clinical trial studies under National Cooperative Research Groups including RTOG, NSABP, GOG. In addition, the department is actively pursuing a study to assess how well patients tolerate SBRT to the prostate fossa following prostatectomy. Another exciting study involves Targeted Radiofrequency Ablation (t-RFA) and Radiofrequency Targeted Vertebral Augmentation (RF-TVA) prior to or following radiation therapy, as part of a multi-center trial that is the first prospective study to evaluate the treatment of painful metastatic lesions covering vertebral compression fractures.
Featured Publication
Research concerning emerging applications of stereotactic body radiotherapy was recently published in Future Oncology. Stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) has been used extensively in patients with lung, liver and spinal tumors, and the treatment outcomes are very favorable. For certain conditions such as medically inoperable stage I non-small-cell lung cancer, liver and lung oligometastases, primary liver cancer and spinal metastases, SBRT is regarded as one of the standard therapies. In the recent years, the use of SBRT has been extended to other disease conditions and sites such as recurrent head and neck cancer, renal cell carcinoma, prostate cancer, adrenal metastasis, pancreatic cancer, gynecological malignancies, spinal cord compression, breast cancer, and stage II-III non-small-cell lung cancer.