Gamma Knife In Psychiatry

[Enkidu]

Hi,
I'm a 4th year MD/PhD student at a midwestern medical school. My research is in neurophysiology (patch clamp and ion channels and that sort of thing). I have an interest in radiation oncology because of it's application in psychosurgery for refractory mental disorders, and I'm thinking about moving my research into this area. I think that my step 1 score is competitive (250), but I'm not sure that my non-oncology related research will make sense to RadOnc programs if I decide to apply. I also have an interest in cancer, of course, and I'm attracted to the basic science of medical physics.

I guess I'm wondering if applying to radiation oncology makes sense for me? The field is really interesting, but I'm worried that programs won't take me seriously because of my unrelated research.

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[Gfunk6]

GKRS for refractory psychiatric disorders is a hyper-niche field. It is much more prevalent outside the US, particularly in Japan and South America. Given this, I don't think it is wise to try to hitch your career (or residency application) to it.

It would be better to go the Psychiatry route and develop a relationship with your local Rad Onc department.

However, if you are more interested in cancer than psychiatry both from the clinical and research end, it would be okay to mention that GKRS for psychiatric d/o was was what initially drew you to Rad Onc. However, you do need some Rad Onc specific (non-basic) research under your belt before they really take you seriously IMO.

 

[nothingman]

I did my PhD in a topic very similar to yours - ion channels, totally unrelated to RadOnc, and before I knew exactly what clinical field I wanted to enter. Most RadOnc programs did not hold this against me in the context of an MD PhD. I did a fairly compact clinical project (chart review/case series) in RadOnc the summer before I applied for residency, and the combination of this and my PhD work was enough for discussion during interviews and a successful match.

In your case, do well on your PhD, and stick to whatever scientific topic you find interesting for now - if it's ion channels, no worries. I would recommend shadowing a RadOnc during your thesis years and doing a rotation when you return to clinics. If you like working with cancer patients and see a career in doing bread and butter RadOnc, then by all means apply. Agree with Gfunk that otherwise the connection with Psych would be pretty tenuous, and applying in Psych would be a better fit.

Feel free to PM me if you'd like to discuss this more, and good luck!

 

[deleted4401]

It's probably a pretty good route into the field, but just not sure whether you would find a job that would allow you to do that. I know UPMC is the biggest GammaKnife center in the US, and they do it very, very selectively. You'd have to probably start a program yourself when you graduated.
-S