Most Searched
Revolutionizing cancer treatment with biology-guided radiotherapy
Radiation oncology, or radiation therapy/radiotherapy, is an effective form of treatment for many types of cancers. Doctors use high doses of radiation to kill cancer cells and shrink tumors. By combining our expertise and next-generation radiotherapy methods, our specialists are able to adjust and target treatment to achieve optimal results for you and to spare normal tissue from radiation exposure.
Keck Medicine of USC is the first and only university-based academic medical center in Southern California to offer groundbreaking biology-guided radiotherapy (BgRT) to patients with primary lung and bone cancers.
How Does Biology-Guided Radiotherapy (BgRT) Work?
BgRT is a novel concept treatment that combines PET (positron emission tomography) imaging technology and radiation therapy. Using PET to detect live signals from the tumor, we can continuously track and treat moving tumors while a patient breathes or moves slightly. This allows our physicians to deliver radiation with pinpoint accuracy — while protecting nearby healthy tissue.
This treatment is FDA-approved for treating primary and secondary lung and bone tumors. As the technology advances, it may soon enable simultaneous treatment of multiple sites throughout the body.
With BgRT, radiation therapy is no longer limited to where tumors are expected to be; it is guided by where the cancer actually is, in real time. This is a transformative leap forward in precision cancer treatment.
We are the ninth installation institution in the country and the world to adopt breakthrough biology-guided radiotherapy technology.
We are one of only nine hospitals in the world to offer a dual-treatment radiotherapy platform that treats all stages of cancer.
We are one of just three clinical sites in California and on the West Coast delivering biology-guided therapy for treating both early- and late-stage cancers.
Our Inhouse Point of Care (Lab) Testing streamlines required labs for certain diagnostic CT and PET CT studies, giving you faster results.
No, radiation therapy is painless. You won’t feel, see, smell or taste the radiation.
No, radiation therapy does not make you radioactive. The radiation is only produced by the machine during treatment.
The most common side effects are fatigue and skin changes. Other side effects include hair loss, appetite changes and diarrhea.
Each treatment session takes a few minutes, but you should allow 30 minutes for the entire session.
Treatments are usually scheduled every day, except for weekends.
You can drive yourself home if you feel up to it, unless your doctor tells you not to.
Showing location
Showing 1 location
LOS ANGELES - Keck Hospital of USC and USC Verdugo Hills Hospital (USC-VHH) each earned a Fall 2025...
