The MD Anderson Regional Care Center in Katy has expanded its treatment options and opened a new imaging center to make cancer treatment easier on its patients.

MD Anderson Diagnostic Imaging in West Houston, located at 15021 I-10, opened Sept. 2 and offers an array of cancer imaging and lab services.

Imaging services available at the center include MRI, CT, positron emission tomography, general and Doppler ultrasounds for diagnostics and biopsies, and digital X-rays.

Radiation oncologist Dr. Elizabeth Bloom, the center's medical director, said the facility provides better care to MD Anderson's patients than can be found at other imaging centers because it is only available to patients who either have a confirmed diagnosis of cancer or whose primary care physician suspects cancer.

"[At other imaging centers] they're seeing everyone," Bloom said. "They're seeing people with headaches who don't know they have cancer. The patients we see here, we already know they have cancer, and our radiologists have developed certain protocols on how to optimize imaging.

"If we're looking at your larynx, we know how to get the clearest view. If we're treating up near the nasal pharynx, we can see if there's an extension into the brain or not. You don't get that kind of imaging elsewhere," she said.

Bloom said the digital technologies of the imaging center enable its radiologists to easily and securely share images with colleagues at the Texas Medical Center to get additional opinions for the diagnosis and treatment of rare or unusual cancers or tumors.

The center also includes a women's imaging center with a separate entrance. Imaging technology available for women includes ultrasound, 3-D digital breast tomosynthesis and ultrasound-guided biopsies that allow radiologists to return a same-day diagnosis.

The ability to offer a same-day diagnosis and other imaging services at a location close to home can be reassuring to patients going through the stressful process of cancer screening, said Monica Huang, MD Anderson Diagnostic Imaging Center medical director.

The regional care center in Katy has also expanded its offerings in 2014, Bloom said.

The clinic has added new disciplinary specialties and implemented new protocols, she said.

"We're bringing out more multi-disciplinary specialties, so there's less reason or need for a patient to travel all the way to the Texas Medical Center for a certain level of expertise," Bloom said. "We also have a committee that meets every month that reviews protocols offered at the main campus, and we evaluate them to see if they can take them out to the regional care centers."

Regional care centers, like the one in Katy and other locations in The Woodlands, Sugar Land and the Bay Area, began offering clinical trials to its patients in 2010.

In the summer of 2013, all four regional care centers had enrolled nearly 400 of its patients into clinical trials.

Bloom said the new imaging center and the improvements at the Regional Care Center in Katy benefit patients who might not be up to traveling to the hospital's main campus.

"If you're already dealing with the stress of the diagnosis of cancer, why battle the traffic and drive to the main campus when you can get the same MD Anderson care that's noted for its very high quality in your own backyard?" she said.

Though the regional care center in Katy is now better prepared than ever to treat patients in Katy, Bloom said she thinks an even larger treatment center will be built in the area.

"There's the potential that we could do something along the I-10 corridor that would bring all of our care into one building," she said. "That's a work in progress."