LITTLE ROCK--The $90-million CARTI Cancer Center was the largest construction project in Arkansas for two years before opening in November 2015. The world-class facility anchors a statewide network of satellite clinics, and employs 465 people. Recently CARTI brought Interventional Oncologist David Hays, MD, to the team, which provides patients access to minimally invasive, targeted treatments for cancer. That adds to the three other oncological modalities used at CARTI in the treatment of cancer: surgical, medical and radiation.
Hays said the ability to provide all treatments within one facility is physically, emotionally and financially beneficial to the patient. Providing comprehensive access to cancer treatment improves the quality of care due to the proximity of the specialists. CARTI provides nearly the entire gamut of minimally invasive procedures in the outpatient setting. It is the largest not-for-profit network of private practice cancer care specialists in Arkansas, and currently sees an estimated 20,000 patients per year.
Hays said as his practice of interventional radiology developed and expanded, interventional oncology (IO) began to encompass the largest component of his practice.
“I had always enjoyed the procedural components of IO, but I really became invested in the patients and with their families,” Hays said. “When the opportunity came up to practice full-time IO at the new CARTI Cancer Center, I could not pass it up.”
Hays said IO improves the treatment of cancer patients by providing services that in many cases can be performed in a much less invasive manner and with image guidance. This would include biopsies, venous access (including Infusaport Placement), as well local tumor treatments such as tumor ablations, and chemoembolizations. Cancer patients can also require a number of procedures that IO is well equipped for, such as fluid drainages, and feeding tube placements.
Many of the treatments provided by IO are palliative. But Hays said there is growing evidence that significant improvements in survival do occur when these techniques are combined with the appropriate conventional cancer therapies.
“Several of the IO procedures have actually been incorporated into treatment guidelines developed by the National Comprehensive Cancer Network,” Hays said. “As IO techniques improve and become more accepted and sought after, the number of IO physicians will have to continue to grow.”
Hays sees important advances on the horizon, improvements in not only the procedures and techniques used, but also in the devices and imaging equipment used to perform the procedures. Those are continually changing and advancing.
A promising new treatment for liver cancer is radioembolization (Y-90), a minimally invasive procedure that combines embolization and radiation therapy. There haven’t yet been any patients treated with Y-90 at the CARTI Cancer Center.
“Currently there is no billing code for this procedure to be done at an outpatient center such as ours,” Hays said. “But as soon as they do exist, we will certainly start. We are one of the few facilities considered that has the infrastructure to provide the complete spectrum of procedures included in this therapy.”
Hays is well respected by patients and co-workers.
“Dr. Hays is friendly and approachable,” said colleague Dorothy Staggs, transcriptionist. “He makes me feel appreciated and that makes me want to work even harder to make his day as easy as I can.”
Tanya Owen, radiology assistant, said it is a pleasure working with him.
“Dr. Hays has an easy going personality and a comforting presence,” Owen said. “His wealth of knowledge and insight gives him sophistication to go along with his abundance of humility. We are thrilled to have him as a colleague.”
Hays, a native of Little Rock, got interested in practicing medicine after taking an undergraduate anatomy/physiology course and realizing that he had a real knack for anatomy.
“That piqued my interest in studying the human body which went on to grow into my pursuing medicine as a career,” he said.
Hays and his wife, Cindy, have been married 33 years and have two girls and three boys. They also have three grandchildren and are expecting a fourth. In addition to golfing, he lists as a hobby taking care of the baseball field at his children’s high school.
“A great deal of my free time has been devoted to chasing my kids around at their athletic events,” Hays said.