Photo caption: One of four private infusion bays designed specifically for patients receiving theranostic treatments. (photo provided courtesy of SLUHN)
St. Luke’s University Health Network has expanded its advanced cancer treatment capabilities with the opening of the St. Luke’s Theranostics Center at St. Luke’s Anderson Campus, a dedicated facility designed to provide patients with access to some of the most innovative targeted cancer therapies available today.
The new center features four private infusion bays designed specifically for patients receiving theranostic treatments. Co-located with St. Luke’s Nuclear Medicine department, the center allows patients to receive consultations, imaging and treatment in one convenient, coordinated location.
A Personalized Approach to Cancer Treatment
Historically, nuclear medicine has been used to diagnose and treat disease. More recently, modern theranostics has evolved through the development of sophisticated imaging agents and targeted radiopharmaceutical therapies that have significantly expanded treatment options for cancer patients.
Theranostics is an innovative approach to cancer care that combines advanced imaging and targeted treatment using specialized radioactive medicines. The term combines the words therapy and diagnostics, reflecting a personalized process in which physicians first use one radiopharmaceutical to identify and evaluate the extent of the disease throughout the body and then use a related radiopharmaceutical to deliver treatment directly to those same cells throughout the body.
“Theranostics is a personalized approach to cancer care that helps us identify disease, determine whether a patient is a candidate for treatment and then deliver therapy directly to cancer cells using paired radioactive particles and molecules that stick to the cancer cells themselves,” said Edgar Cheng, MD, diagnostic radiologist and SLUHN Division Chief of Nuclear Medicine. “It enables us to treat cancer with remarkable precision while minimizing exposure to healthy tissues.”
Dedicated Expertise and Specialized Care
The center’s physician team includes Dr. Cheng, Dr. Jay Riccardi and Dr. Steven Yang, all board-certified diagnostic radiologists with specialized expertise in nuclear medicine.
Patients receiving care through this program are supported by a multidisciplinary team that includes clinical oncologists, radiation oncologists, radiologists, radiopharmaceutical therapy specialists, imaging technologists, and registered nurses.
The patient journey begins with a comprehensive consultation and education session, during which the care team explains the treatment process, discusses radiation safety precautions and answers patient questions. Depending on the prescribed therapy and the type of cancer being treated, patients may receive a series of infusions over several months. Following treatment, patients return for follow-up imaging, laboratory testing and ongoing care coordination with their oncologist and other members of the cancer care team.
Cancers Treated Through the Program
Currently, the St. Luke’s Theranostics Center treats patients with:
- Low grade neuroendocrine tumors, a group of uncommon cancers that develop in neuroendocrine cells found throughout the body, most commonly in the digestive tract, pancreas and lungs.
- Prostate cancer, particularly advanced forms that can be targeted using specialized radioligand therapies. Radioligand therapy is a targeted cancer treatment that uses a molecule to deliver radiation directly to cancer cells.
- Certain thyroid cancers, building upon St. Luke’s longstanding experience with radioactive iodine treatments.
The center currently offers FDA-approved radioligand therapies including Xofigo®, Lutathera® and Pluvicto® for eligible patients.
National Recognition and Future Growth
The expansion further strengthens St. Luke’s position as a leader in nuclear medicine and theranostics. Since 2022, the program has been designated a Clinical Radiopharmaceutical Therapy Center of Excellence by the Society of Nuclear Medicine & Molecular Imaging (SNMMI), making it one of approximately 40 programs nationwide to earn the distinction and the only center in the region.
The program is expected to expand as new therapies gain approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, allowing patients greater access to leading-edge cancer treatments close to home.
The dedicated center expands access to specialized cancer care while further establishing St. Luke’s as a regional destination for advanced cancer treatment.
About St. Luke’s
Founded in 1872, St. Luke’s University Health Network (SLUHN) is a fully integrated, regional, non-profit network with annual net revenue of $5 billion. With 24,000 employees at 16 hospital campuses and 400 outpatient sites, it is the Lehigh Valley’s biggest employer.
The Network’s service area includes 11 counties in two states: Lehigh, Northampton, Berks, Bucks, Carbon, Montgomery, Monroe, Schuylkill and Luzerne counties in Pennsylvania and Warren and Hunterdon counties in New Jersey. St. Luke’s Children’s Hospital is based at the Bethlehem Campus.
Dedicated to advancing medical education, St. Luke’s is the preeminent teaching hospital in central-eastern Pennsylvania. In partnership with Temple University, the Network established the Lehigh Valley’s first and only four-year medical school. It also operates the nation’s oldest continuously operating School of Nursing, established in 1884, and 60+ fully accredited graduate medical educational programs with 550+ residents and fellows. Additionally, the St. Luke’s College of Health Sciences opened in 2026.
In a 2025 study by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, St. Luke’s received the highest quality score of the nation’s three highest performing health systems. This objective recognition, based on public data reported to the government, reaffirms St. Luke’s preeminent position as THE BEST OF THE BEST among the most respected health care systems in the United States.
St. Luke’s has been named a Leapfrog Group Top Hospital and a Newsweek World’s Best Hospital. In 2026, all of the Network’s eligible hospital campuses were awarded Medicare’s highest ratings for quality, efficiency and patient satisfaction. The Network also earned straight A’s for safety from Leapfrog across all of its acute care hospitals. It has earned 100 Top Hospital designations from Premier 12 years in a row, including in 2026 when the Network was identified as THE #1 MEDIUM-SIZE HEALTH SYSTEM IN THE COUNTRY. Utilizing the Epic electronic medical record (EMR) system for both inpatient and outpatient services, the Network is a multi-year recipient of the Most Wired award recognizing the breadth of SLUHN’s information technology applications such as telehealth, online scheduling and online pricing information.
Information provided to TVL by:
Sam Kennedy
