Prior authorization — health insurer approval of a medical intervention prior to treatment — costs more than $40 million for U.S. academic radiation oncology practices, with questionable value added to patient care.

Vanderbilt University Medical Center Radiation Oncologists have performed a first-ever non-invasive procedure which has greatly improved a patient’s 50-year symptoms of long-term, treatment-resistant depression.

A radiation therapy device for the treatment of a rare cancer has been designed, custom built and installed at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center at Maury Regional Spring Hill, offering patients from Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia and southern Tennessee more convenient care.

Four months ago, a multidisciplinary care team at Vanderbilt University Medical Center treated a patient with lifelong major depressive disorder (MDD) and obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) — conditions that left her debilitated with intrusive thoughts, constant fear, suicidal intent and anorexia.

After serving as the department’s interim leader, Eric Shinohara, MD, MSCI, vice chair of the Department of Radiation Oncology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, has been named as the department’s chair.

Combining immunotherapy and radiation therapy may be a powerful treatment approach for castration-resistant prostate cancer.

Lisa Kachnic, MD, Professor and Cornelius Vanderbilt Chair of the Department of Radiation Oncology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, has been named professor and chair of the Department of Radiation Oncology at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons.