Dr. Alvaro Martinez, MD

Expert Publications

• Direct evidence that prostate tumors show high sensitivity to fractionation (low alpha/beta ratio), similar to late-responding normal tissue.
• The dose-volume relationship of acute small bowel toxicity from concurrent 5-FU-based chemotherapy and radiation therapy for rectal cancer.
• Dosimetric characteristics of the MammoSite RTS, a new breast brachytherapy applicator.
• An Internet-ready database for prospective randomized clinical trials of high-dose-rate brachytherapy for adenocarcinoma of the prostate.
• Practical application of biochemical failure definitions: what to do and when to
• Dose escalation using conformal high-dose-rate brachytherapy improves outcome in
• The influence of percentage of preradiation needle biopsies with adenocarcinoma and total radiation dose on the pathologic response of unfavorable prostate adenocarcinoma.
• Flat-panel cone-beam computed tomography for image-guided radiation therapy.
• Pathologic evidence of dose-response and dose-volume relationships for prostate cancer treated with combined external beam radiotherapy and high-dose-rate brachytherapy.
• Percentage of positive biopsy cores as predictor of clinical outcome in prostate cancer treated with radiotherapy.
• Significant reductions in heart and lung doses using deep inspiration breath hold with active breathing control and intensity-modulated radiation therapy for patients treated with locoregional breast irradiation.
• Initial clinical experience with moderate deep-inspiration breath hold using an active breathing control device in the treatment of patients with left-sided breast cancer using external beam radiation therapy.
• Three-dimensional evaluation of intra- and interfraction immobilization of lung and chest wall using active breathing control: a reproducibility study with breast cancer patients.
• Impact of breathing motion on whole breast radiotherapy: a dosimetric analysis using active breathing control.
• Potential survival advantage with early androgen deprivation for biochemical failure after external beam radiotherapy: the importance of accurately defining biochemical disease status.

Media Releases

Get to know Radiation Oncologist Dr. Alvaro Martinez, who serves patients throughout the State of Michigan.

Dr. Martinez, a board-certified radiation oncologist, holds the position of Senior Vice President of Scientific and Clinical Strategy at MHP Radiation Oncology Institute. He operates out of the offices in Farmington Hills, Troy, and Pontiac, Michigan.

For over three decades, he has pioneered several cancer treatments in radiation oncology leading to the significant improvement of today’s radiation therapy outcomes. These include intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) and image-guided radiation therapy (IGRT) to improve precision and accuracy in radiation treatment delivery, special brachytherapy applicators used to treat prostate, as well as gynecological and other pelvic malignancies to preserve organ function.

Born in Colombia, South America, Dr. Martinez graduated with his medical degree from the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana Faculty of Medicine in Bogotá in 1968. He immigrated to the United States in 1970 and completed a radiation oncology residency program at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York where he was chief resident.

Following his residency, he became an Assistant Professor at Stanford University Medical School in Palo Alto, California. In 1981, he joined the Department of Oncology at Mayo Clinic Medical School in Rochester, Minnesota where he achieved the position of Associate Professor. He was appointed Chairman of the Department of Radiation Oncology at Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak in 1985. He served as Corporate Chairman of Radiation Oncology at Beaumont and as a Professor of Radiation Oncology at Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine. 

Along with Frank Vicini, MD, Beaumont’s Corporate Chief of Oncology Services, Dr. Martinez promoted the use of accelerated partial irradiation using 3-D conformal external beam or brachytherapy techniques to replace the conventional six-week external beam breast irradiation for patients with this malignancy. Recently, he developed a new treatment called Omnibeam, with a company in Sweden. The treatment is designed for treating tumors deep within the body.

Board-certified in radiation oncology, Dr. Martinez is a Diplomate of the American Board of Radiology (ABR). The ABR is an independent, not-for-profit professional association with headquarters in Tucson, Arizona.

Affiliated with numerous national and international professional organizations, he is an active member of the American Brachytherapy Society, the American Radium Society, the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the American Society of Therapeutic Radiology And Oncology, the California Radiological Society, the Colombian Medical Association, the Inter American College of Physicians And Surgeons, the Michigan Radiological Society, the Michigan Society of Therapeutic Radiologists, the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast Project, the North Central Cancer Treatment Group, the Northern California Oncology Group, the Northern California Radiotherapy Association, the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group, the Southwest Oncology Group, and the Western Association of Gynecologic Oncology. He was also awarded a Fellowship in the American College of Radiology and the American Society for Radiation Oncology.

He was president of the Michigan Society of Therapeutic Radiology in 1989 and president of the American Brachytherapy Society in 1991. 

Radiation oncology is a medical specialty that involves the controlled use of radiation to treat cancer. It is one of the three primary specialties – the other two being surgical and medical oncology – involved in the treatment of cancer. A radiation oncologist is a specialist physician who uses ionizing radiation in the treatment of cancer.

Highly regarded by his peers for his professional accomplishments, Dr. Martinez has been an associate editor for many national and international medical journals, has contributed to more than 340 articles in prestigious scientific medical journals, as well as has written and contributed to more than 45 chapters in textbooks.

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