IORT
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Intraoperative Radiation Therapy (IORT)
Cancer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA) has added Intraoperative Radiation Therapy (IORT) to its state-of-the-art radiation oncology program. IORT allows patients to receive a single, powerful dose of radiation to a tumor site during surgery. This technique helps to reduce treatment times and minimize side effects.
With IORT, our radiation oncologists deliver highly concentrated beams of radiation directly to the tumor bed immediately after tumor removal. This significantly increases the dose of radiation that can be delivered, while also shielding the surrounding healthy tissues and organs. By delivering the equivalent of several weeks of standard radiation therapy in a single dose and treatment session, IORT helps to improve comfort and quality of life.
IORT also destroys microscopic tumor cells left behind by surgery, before the cells have a chance to divide or migrate to other areas of the body.
In addition, for patients who need to receive additional radiation therapy after surgery, IORT can be used as a "boost" to treat microscopic disease and shorten treatment time. An IORT boost may be a treatment option for prostate, rectal and gynecologic cancer patients.
At CTCA, breast cancer patients are the most likely to receive IORT, followed by rectal and stomach cancer patients. IORT may also be a treatment option for patients with a variety of other cancer types, including:
- Head and neck
- Rectal
- Breast
- Lung
- Esophageal
- Pancreatic
- Stomach
- Prostate
- Gynecologic
- Soft tissue sarcomas
