Cancer treatment is taking a major step forward in South Arkansas and North Louisiana. It’s all thanks to a $19 million expansion of the CARTI Cancer Center in El Dorado, Arkansas. While the expanded facility and services went into service last week, the formal ribbon cutting ceremony took place Thursday night, November 13, 2025.
The headquarters for the Central Arkansas Radiation Therapy Institute (CARTI) is located in Little Rock. That main facility and CARTI El Dorado represent just two of the 18 CARTI locations across the state of Arkansas. Thanks to the seven thousand square foot expansion at the El Dorado site, patients treated there will now have full-time access to what’s described as leading-edge breast care, including 3D screening and diagnostic contrast-enhanced mammography, advanced imaging, radiation therapy – and soon, urologic services.
CARTI President and CEO Adam Head points to progress in their fight against cancer, which he says starts with early diagnoses. “More cancers are getting diagnosed. And if we look at the mortality rate in that same time period, and this is the thing that actually gives us a lot of hope and encouragement in this, the mortality rate is exactly the same. In the state of Arkansas it is. And that’s the only state right now where we have services.” So Head says a 27% increase in cancer diagnoses in the past 5-years, while also holding steady on survival rates in Arkansas, while not verified scientific proof of their success just yet, he says this is still nothing short of very encouraging moving forward.
Head says of CARTI, “We’re a cancer-focused organization, almost 50 years old; It’s our 49th year of existence. In terms of organizationally how we’re set up, and it’s been the same way the entire time. We’re an independent, nonprofit, non-physician owned, not outside managed entity which is kind of a unicorn I’ve discovered over time.” In all, those 18 locations treat more than 50,000 patients each year from every county in Arkansas, according to the organization.
Head says add to that the fact that CARTI is not hospital-based and he explains all those factors combine to allow for the kind of flexibility they can provide in client care statewide. Case in point: a new study reveals that 30 of Arkansas' 47 rural hospitals with inpatient services were at risk of closure due to losses of patient services, insufficient revenues from other sources to offset losses, and low financial reserves.
As Head explains, because of CARTI facilities, “You don’t have to drive to a big metropolitan area to be able to get the kind of care you need. It’s cancer. It needs to be close so that you can have that kind of access on a team.” The four types of cancers they see the most include breast, lung, prostate and colon cancer and that’s why CARTI leadership is targeting screenings to catch more of those cases as early as possible.
As for the $19 million dollar cost of the El Dorado facility’s expansion [to a completed total of 25,000 square feet], Head points to an internal investment accounting for $12 million. The final $7 million comes from funds made available through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) of 2021.
