The South Carolina Supreme Court decided March 15 there is a need for additional cancer treatment equipment in Spartanburg and Cherokee counties.

The high court ruled a linear accelerator will be awarded for radiation therapy at both Cancer Centers of the Carolinas (CCC) and the Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System. The court ruling ends a sevenyear legal dispute between the two medical groups over the right to offer new cancer treatment programs in the area.

Spartanburg Regional was seeking the radiation therapy equipment so it could proceed with plans to establish a cancer treatment program at Upstate Carolina Medical Center in Gaffney.

Cancer Centers of the Carolinas wanted to provide radiation therapy services for patients at its physicianowned private practice in Spartanburg, not far from the Gibbs Regional Cancer Center, which is affiliated with Spartanburg Regional.

Hospitals must apply for a certificate of need from the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control before building medical facilities or purchasing equipment. DHEC decided in 2003 to grant a certificate of need to Spartanburg Regional Medical Center, but not to Cancer Centers of the Carolinas, finding the two applications were “competing.”

Several appeals followed before the issue ended up before the state Supreme Court, which agreed in a March 15 opinion there is enough need in the community to approve both applications for linear accelerators.

Justice John H. Waller Jr. wrote the main opinion for the court.

“The record is replete with evidence that both the aging population and the general class of cancer patients in the tri-county service area — particularly those in the more rural areas — need easier access to radiation treatments,” Waller wrote in the opinion. “Moreover, the rapidly expanding population in the urban areas of the tri-county region establishes the need for the additional Spartanburg facility.”

Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System announced today it will move forward with its plans to start a new cancer treatment program in Gaffney. Hospital spokesman Chad Lawson said the hospital will share more details on the project soon.

“Although we’re disappointed with the one half of the court’s final ruling, Spartanburg Regional is looking ahead to the establishment of a world-class cancer program for the residents of Gaffney and Cherokee County,” Lawson said. “We look forward to providing this community with access to a full complement of cancer services, including radiation therapy.”

The Cancer Centers of the Carolinas was also pleased with the decision, said Jeffery Edenfield, a medical oncologist and spokesperson for the physicians group. About 18 percent of Cancer Centers of the Carolinas patients live in Cherokee County.

“Our goal has always been to offer comprehensive cancer care to our patients in and around Spartanburg, Cherokee and Union counties,” Edenfield said. “Chemotherapy and radiation therapy are difficult enough without making patients drive to one office for one treatment and across town for another treatment. We are also thrilled that Gaffney patients will have radiation in their own town. This is a win for all Upstate cancer patients.”