Radiation Oncology: Advanced Treatments & Technology
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Radiation Therapy at Midwestern
CTCA at Midwestern Regional Medical Center (Midwestern) obtains advanced cancer treatment tools and technologies to bring new hope and options to our patients now.
Midwestern offers several types of radiation therapy, including:
- Calypso® 4D Localization System
- External Beam Radiation Therapy
- High-Dose Rate (HDR) Brachytherapy
- Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT)
- Intraoperative Radiation Therapy (IORT)
- MammoSite® Radiation Therapy
- 3D Conformal Radiation Therapy
- TomoTherapy®
- Trilogy™
Breakthrough Cancer Treatment Technology
Calypso®
One of the latest tools we’ve acquired offers new treatment possibilities for prostate cancer patients. The Calypso® 4D Localization System™, also known as GPS for the Body®, aids in targeting external beam radiation.
Using this groundbreaking technology, our radiation therapy team locates the prostate tumor and actively monitors the prostate’s motion during treatment. Calypso® helps us to target cancer cells and avoid injury to healthy tissues surrounding the tumor.
IORT
Intraoperative Radiation Therapy (IORT) allows our doctors to deliver a concentrated beam of radiation directly to a tumor bed immediately after the tumor is surgically removed. This helps to increase the dose of radiation that can be given, shield the surrounding healthy tissue, and lessen the number of radiation treatments needed.
IORT may be used alone, or in combination with other therapies, to treat patients with a variety of cancer types, including but not limited to: breast, cervical, colorectal, head and neck, ovarian, pancreatic, and soft tissue sarcoma.
TomoTherapy®
“We were the fifth or sixth hospital in the world to have the TomoTherapy Highly Integrated Adaptive Radiotherapy System®,” says Dr. Eden. “To be able to use that for our patients has been an incredible opportunity.”
Because of its exceptional accuracy, this enhanced form of Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT) allows us to safely treat tumors in areas that are extremely difficult to reach. TomoTherapy integrates imaging technology with radiation therapy.
Each time patients receive TomoTherapy treatment, they first undergo a CT scan from the same machine. Moments after the CT scan is taken, radiation therapists make technical adjustments to the system to align the patient’s programmed radiation treatment to the exact position of the patient.
As Dr. Eden explains, “TomoTherapy allows us to focus the radiation precisely onto tumor targets and spare the healthy tissue and organs surrounding the tumor from the radiation.”
Trilogy™
In December 2008, Midwestern opened a brand-new, radiation oncology suite complete with one of the most innovative, powerful and precise radiation therapy delivery tools available: Varian's Trilogy™ system.
Trilogy offers capabilities for providing Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT), Image Guided Radiation Therapy, 3D Conformal Radiation, Fractionated Stereotactic Radiation Therapy, and Stereotactic Radiosurgery—all from one machine.
This technology’s real-time imaging gives us up-to-the-second data so we can monitor tumor motion during treatment, provide extremely targeted radiation therapy and avoid harm to healthy tissues that surround tumors.
Furthermore, the speed at which Trilogy administers treatment is significantly faster than some other radiation therapy delivery systems. Because the system delivers each treatment so quickly, it minimizes the time patients spend in the treatment room receiving radiation therapy.
