Holy Cross Health Cancer Center Services
The Holy Cross Health Cancer Center provides the following radiation therapy services. Our goal is to deliver increasingly effective doses of radiation to precisely mapped areas.
- HDR (high dose rate) therapy, which delivers radiation directly within the confines of the tumor and is used primarily for gynecological, breast, esophageal and thoracic malignancies.
- IMRT (intensity-modulated radiation therapy), which optimizes radiation delivery, spares healthy tissue and allows for re-treatment options in selected situations.
- MammoSite, a new brachytherapy technique for delivering radiation treatment to the breast. Brachytherapy is a special use of radiation in which a radioactive source is placed as close as possible to the tumor site.
- Prostate seed implantation (transperineal interstitial brachytherapy) for implantation and delivery of radiation seeds into the prostate gland.
- Stereotactic radiosurgery, Novalis, or shaped beam surgery, is a treatment delivered to outpatients, with surgical precision. It is a noninvasive, thus bloodless procedure. The purpose of this type of treatment is to allow for shaping of the radiation beam to the exact shape of the tumor, thereby sparing healthy tissue. Information on the size, location, histology and growth of the tumor will guide the radiation oncologist to know if stereotactic radiosurgery is the appropriate type of treatment. This type of "surgery" can be used to destroy tumors in the brain, neck, spine and lungs.
- External beam therapy is a method for delivering a beam of high-energy X-rays to the location of the patient's tumor. The beam is generated outside the patient (usually by a linear accelerator) and is targeted at the tumor site. These X-rays can destroy the cancer cells and careful treatment planning allows the surrounding normal tissues to be spared. No radioactive sources are placed inside the patient's body. This type of treatment is the most traditional type of radiation therapy and is used for many types of tumors.
- Advanced CT simulation to accurately identify and define the treatment targets and surrounding normal tissue.
- 3-D treatment planning to allow for the safest and most precise treatment delivery.
- PET scanning, through a relationship with Affiliated PET Systems, accurately depicts metabolic changes and allows us to fuse anatomic and metabolic images for the most comprehensive radiation treatment planning. It is one of the most important tools to diagnose, stage and monitor tumor treatment.