 |
Radiation Oncology with Dynamic Targeting
Trinitas Cancer Center is the first and currently the only cancer center in
New Jersey that hosts the Trilogy Linear Accelerator, the most advanced,
robotic, non-surgical radiation therapy available. This extraordinary piece
of equipment offers new hope to patients who are excluded from other options
by precisely targeting tumors that lie close to critical organs such as the
heart or lungs. Healthy tissue remains protected while the Trilogy delivers
powerful radiation to tumors. The Trilogy's real-time Dynamic Targeting
robotics precisely tracks and adjusts for tumor mobility at the instant of
treatment, then targets cancer and neurological lesions with sub-millimeter
accuracy. This cutting-edge technology allows doctors to deliver the highly
accurate cancer treatments while reducing the time a patient need to spend
in treatment. Consequently, patients receive greater comfort, faster
treatment and better outcomes. Prostate, breast, lung, colorectal, liver and
pancreatic cancers as well as brain tumors can be treated by the Trilogy
Linear Accelerator.
What is Radiation Therapy?
Radiation Therapy is a non-surgical cancer treatment where radiation is
delivered either through external, non-invasive high-energy rays from a
linear accelerator or through seed implants inserted near the tumor.
Radiation therapy is used to destroy or damage cancer cells so they are not
given the chance to multiply.
A linear accelerator, equipped with a
special device called a multileaf collimator that shapes the
radiation beam, delivers the radiation in and can be rotated around the
patient to send radiation beams from the most favorable angles for giving
the tumor a high dose while preserving important healthy tissues.
The following are the varieties of radiation therapy we provide:
|
External Beam Radiation : This painless technique which only
takes several minutes per treatment, involves directing a "beam" of
radiation from outside the body, focused on the cancerous internal organ
or tissue within the body. The treatments are typically given every day
for a number of weeks to minimize side effects.
|
|
Radiosurgery : Radiosurgery (one-session treatment) is a radiation therapy
treatment mechanism in which high doses of radiation are delivered using a
very precise beam during a single treatment session. Radiosurgery's changes
are considered "surgical" because of the dramatic effect in the target zone.
|
|
Stereotactic Radiosurgery : Stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) treats cancers
and tumors with a very exact delivery of radiation targeted at the tumor
from various angles. The linear accelerator rotates around the patient for
optimal delivery of the radiation while avoiding healthy tissues and
sensitive organs. This form of radiation destroys or distorts the DNA of the
tumor cells and in result, they lose their ability to reproduce.
|
|
Brachytherapy : Brachytherapy, also referred to as seed implant therapy, is
a form of internal radiation which allows the doctor to apply greater more
targets doses of radiation to a more condensed area in a shorter period of
time than is possible with external radiation treatment. There are two major
forms of brachytherapy: Low Dose and High Dose
|
|
Low Dose Rate Seed Implantation : Low dose rate seed
implantation is a procedure which involves implanting radioactive seeds
into the effected area, minimizing radiation exposure to surrounding
tissues while permitting a higher dose in the area of the cancer.
Generally, the patient can resume normal daily activities within several
hours of this procedure.
|
|
High Dose Rate Seed Implantation : High dose rate (HDR) brachytherapy
places a high-energy radiation source(seeds) inside the body near the tumor
for just a few minutes and are then removed. The radiation only affects a
very small, targeted area in and around the tumor. Highly localized doses of
radiation are allowed to be delivered to the tumor quickly. Due to the
precision of this technique, patients often experience fewer overall side
effects from therapy.
|
|
IMRT (Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy): This
state-of-the-art treatment gives radiation oncologists the power to
"sculpt" the edges of a tumor with precision, sparing the neighboring
healthy tissue. Patients experience significantly lower side effects and
are offered the potential of higher cure rates with IMRT. IMRT can be
used to treat tumors that might have been considered untreatable in the
past, due to close proximity of vital organs and structures.
IMRT delivers high doses of radiation directly to cancer cells in a very
targeted way, much more precisely than is possible with conventional
radiotherapy. IMRT can deliver higher radiation doses directly to cancer
cells while sparing more of the surrounding healthy tissue. IMRT uses
computer-generated images to plan and then deliver tightly focused radiation
beams to cancerous tumors. Physicians use IMRT to exquisitely "paint" the
tumor with a precise radiation beam that conforms as closely as possible to
the shape of the tumor.
|
|
IGRT (Image Guided Radiation Therapy): Image-guided radiation therapy (IGRT)
is a process that enables radiation oncologists to see a targeted tumor with
increased accuracy. IGRT imaging technology improves the precision and
effectiveness of cancer treatments by giving doctors the ability to track
and adjust for tumor positions more accurately at the moment of treatment.
|
What Are the Goals of Radiation Therapy Treatment?
|
Cure - Eliminate all cancer cells: no evidence of disease
|
|
Control - Slowing progression of disease
|
|
Prevent recurrence (Adjuvant)
|
|
Shrinking tumor before surgery (neo-adjuvent)
|
|
Pain Relief
|
What Are the Side Effects of Radiation Therapy?
|
Fatigue
|
|
Redness and irritation
|
|
Some loss of appetite
|
|
Skin texture changes
|
|
Swelling
|
|
Joint stiffness
|
|
For head and neck cancers: dry mouth, hair loss, difficulty
swallowing, changes in or loss of sense of taste, nausea, ear aches
|
Typically, side effects are limited to the parts of the body that receive
treatment. Fortunately, most side effects will go away in time.
Trilogy® Linear Accelerator with
Dynamic Targeting
|
The Trinitas Comprehensive Cancer Center was the in New Jersey
with the new Trilogy™ system with Dynamic Targeting technology
for image-guided radiotherapy (IGRT) from Varian Medical
Systems. Trilogy's ultra-precise robotics accurately tracks and
adjusts for tumor movements at the moment of treatment, then
targets cancer and neurological lesions with sub-millimeter
accuracy. Trinitas is currently the only hospital in New Jersey
with the Trilogy technology.
This new technology offers new hope to patients who might not
have other options. It helps protect healthy organs and tissues.
In the case of head and neck tumors, for example, we can now
target a tumor while preserving the patient's ability to talk
and swallow. Trilogy gives us the ability to precisely target
tumors that lie extremely close to critical anatomy like the
heart, spinal cord, lung, rectum or salivary glands
The Trilogy's fully-robotic imaging system can be used to
deliver all forms of external beam radiotherapy, including 3-D
conformal (3D-CRT) to customize the radiation beams to match the
shape and contours of the tumor, intensity-modulated
radiotherapy (IMRT) that varies the radiation doses according to
the dimensions of the tumor, image-guided radiotherapy (IGRT),
and Stereotactic Radiosurgery (SRS), precisely focused
overlapping beams that deliver radiation treatment in single or
multiple sessions. The Trilogy's stereotactic technology can be
used to treat prostate, lung, liver and pancreatic cancers as
well as brain tumors.
The extraordinary power and flexibility of the Trilogy system
assures us that we can design a treatment plan that gives our
patients the best and most appropriate treatment possible. By
combining the most powerful radiotherapy treatment machine with
high-quality dynamic targeting imaging, tracking, and monitoring
devices, Trilogy allows us to deliver the most accurate
treatments possible in the shortest amount of time. That
translates into faster treatments, greater patient comfort, and
the potential for better outcomes."
Radiation therapy is used today in more than half of all cancer
treatments due to its unique clinical advantages, and it is
becoming steadily more effective with new technologies that
permit ultra-precise dose delivery. With this new Trilogy
system, Trinitas Comprehensive Cancer Center has the potential
to substantially improve cancer treatment outcomes by doing a
better job of protecting healthy tissue while delivering more
powerful radiation doses to tumors and other abnormalities.
|
|
|
