Dr. John M. Rainey of the Cancer Center of Acadiana told Eunice Rotarians last week that advances in cancer screenings and treatments are increasing at a phenomenal rate.

“Our knowledge base is doubling almost every two years,” Rainey said, adding, “We’re curing almost half the cancers we treat nowadays. If people would quit smoking, it would take 30 years, but the cancer rate would drop in half.”

“Almost half of all cancers are caused by cigarettes. But more and more we’re finding these newer therapies, looking at these molecular X-rays, we can put people in remission for longer periods of time, with minimal side effects. It’s just amazing how much stuff we can do now,” Rainey said.

Advances in cancer screenings are leading to more cancers being detected at an earlier, and thus more treatable state, Rainey said.

“We’re finding cancers earlier at a more treatable stage,” Rainey said.

Rainey said the cancer center had been separate from Savoy Medical Center, but in January, the cancer center merged with the medical center to get better pricing on expensive chemotherapy drugs.

Rainey said the cancer center can treat most cancers here in Acadiana.

“For the bread-and-butter things; lung cancer, breast cancer, colon cancer, stomach cancer, pancreatic cancer, those sort of cancers that make up 90 percent of the business, we can do everything here locally that can be done anywhere else,” Rainey said.

More information on the Cancer Center of Acadiana can be found at www.notanormalcancercenter.com.