ARH SBRT Program Surpasses 200-Patient Milestone

NEWS RELEASE - September 17, 2026

ARH SBRT Program Surpasses 200-Patient Milestone

HAZARD, Ky. -Appalachian Regional Healthcare (ARH) is celebrating an important milestone in cancer care as its Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy (SBRT) program at the ARH Cancer Center in Hazard has now cared for more than 200 patients.

SBRT is an advanced form of radiation therapy that allows physicians to deliver highly focused doses of radiation directly to a tumor while limiting radiation exposure to surrounding healthy tissue. For eligible patients, treatment can often be completed in three to five sessions, compared with several weeks of conventional radiation therapy.

ARH Radiation Oncologist Don Stacy II, M.D. DABR, said reaching the 200-patient milestone shows both the program's growth and increasing awareness among patients and referring providers of the advanced treatment options available through ARH.

"Reaching more than 200 patients shows how much this program has grown and how awareness of stereotactic treatment continues to increase," Dr. Stacy said. "As we've gained experience, we've been able to expand the types of cancers we can treat and provide this advanced care to more patients right here in our region."

When ARH first began offering SBRT in 2021, the program focused on a limited number of treatment sites, including lung cancer. As the program developed, its capabilities expanded to include eligible patients with cancers affecting areas such as the prostate, adrenal gland, liver and bone. Stereotactic radiosurgery, or SRS, provides a similar highly focused treatment approach for tumors involving the brain.

For many patients in Appalachia, having access to these services through ARH also means receiving specialized cancer care closer to home. Dr. Stacy said patients who once may have needed to travel to larger medical centers outside the region can now receive eligible stereotactic treatments through ARH, reducing the time, travel, and disruption associated with cancer care.

SBRT can also significantly reduce the amount of time some patients spend undergoing treatment. Dr. Stacy explained that, for certain cancers, a treatment course that traditionally could have required several weeks may instead be completed in approximately one week. Stereotactic treatment is designed to concentrate radiation on the tumor while reducing exposure to nearby healthy tissue.

Reaching this milestone also reflects the multidisciplinary team required to safely provide this specialized treatment. The program brings together radiation oncologists, medical physicists, dosimetrists and radiation therapists, each playing an important role in treatment planning, quality assurance, patient positioning and radiation delivery.

"This type of treatment requires a dedicated and highly skilled team," Dr. Stacy said. "We have a great team here that is doing an excellent job providing this service and making sure our patients receive high-quality care."

Dr. Stacy noted that medical physicists verify that radiation equipment is operating properly, dosimetrists develop highly precise treatment plans, radiation therapists carefully position patients and deliver treatment, and physicians oversee each patient's individualized course of care.

With more than 200 patients now cared for through the program, ARH continues to expand access to advanced radiation oncology services while helping patients receive specialized cancer treatment closer to the communities they call home.

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About Appalachian Regional Healthcare (ARH)
Appalachian Regional Healthcare (ARH) traces its roots back to 1955, when the United Mine Workers of America opened the Miners Memorial Hospital system - a network of 10 hospitals dedicated to providing care throughout the coalfields of eastern Kentucky and southern West Virginia. Seventy years later, ARH has grown into a 14-hospital not-for-profit health system that serves more than 500,000 residents of central Appalachia each year. ARH hospitals in Barbourville, Harlan, Hazard, Hyden, Martin, McDowell, Middlesboro, Paintsville, Prestonsburg, West Liberty, Whitesburg, and South Williamson in Kentucky, and Beckley and Hinton in West Virginia, ensure that residents, tucked away in even the most remote areas, can access the highest quality of care without traveling hours from home. ARH's hospitals, clinics, multi-specialty physician practices, home health agencies, home medical equipment stores, retail pharmacies, and medical spas boast more than 6,700 employees with a network of more than 1,300 providers, making it the single largest employer in southeastern Kentucky and the third-largest private employer in southern West Virginia.