Radiation. To people unfamiliar with treatment of cancer, the word can conjure up a variety of images, from microwave ovens to nuclear reactor fallout. Radiation therapy is frequently used for treating a variety of cancers, including breast, prostate, head and neck, lung, esophagus, and bladder.
Radiation therapy uses high-energy rays (such as x-rays) to kill or shrink cancer cells while preserving as many normal surrounding cells as possible. Radiation therapy may be used to reduce the size of a cancer before surgery, to destroy any remaining cancer cells after surgery, or, in some cases, as the main treatment. It can also be used in conjunction with chemotherapy.
More than half of all cancer patients receive radiation therapy at some time during their illness. About half of these patients are treated with the hope of curing the cancer and the other half are treated for palliation - to relieve symptoms the cancer is causing.
Patient, Bob Baylor shares his story.
OUR TEAM
St. Luke’s radiation therapy team - which includes therapists, a dosimetrist, a physicist, and a registered nurse - has years of special training and experience working with the equipment that plans and delivers radiation therapy. They also combine their expertise with St. Luke’s tradition of caring for the whole patient – body, mind and spirit.
“Nothing like this exists outside of the Texas Medical Center,” says Steve Carpenter, MD, a radiation oncologist who works at the new site. “St. Luke’s has really jumped in with both feet here.”
Our facility boasts the Varian Clinac Model 21EX linear accelerator for radiation therapy and a GE Computed Tomography (CT) scanner for 3-D virtual target simulation. Both of these machines are used in planning and carrying out radiation therapy. The facility has also obtained software for the latest and most sophisticated type of conformal radiation, which is called intensity modulated radiation (IMRT). A CT/PET scan is adjacent to this facility and it is connected directly to the radiation treatment planning system. CT/PET is the most accurate and sensitive PET (positron emission tomography) scan imaging available.
If you are undergoing radiation therapy, here is what to expect:
Radiation therapy is generally given once a day, Monday through Friday, usually at the same time each day. Palliative radiation (radiation used only for the alleviation of symptoms) can last from one day to two weeks; definitive treatment of cancerous tumors can last from five to seven weeks. Texas Cancer Institute staff make every effort to schedule treatment times that are most convenient for the patient.
A few days before your first session, however, you lie down on the CT scanner, which produces a 3-D image of your body. Small marks are made on your body and these identify the treatment areas throughout your therapy.
After the CT scan, the dosimetrist and the radiation oncologist will sit down at a computer, review the images, and plan where and how the radiation will be delivered. This is an important step in the process, since it ensures that the radiation will concentrate on the cancerous area while affecting the surrounding cells as little as possible.
The radiation therapists then use the plan developed by the dosimetrist and oncologist to perform the radiation therapy.
The first couple of times you are seen by the radiation therapists, you may need to be there for an hour or more. After daily treatments have been established, patients can expect their appointments to last about 30 minutes.
At the time of treatment, you usually put on a special gown in a private dressing room. The therapists will then bring you into the treatment room, where you lie on the treatment table. It is then elevated about three feet off the ground, closer to the head of the accelerator.
The therapists spend several minutes aligning the head of the accelerator to help ensure precise treatment, and then leave the room prior to each treatment. While they are out of the room, the therapists continuously monitor the treatment via a video camera and audio connection with the treatment room. You may talk to the therapists at any time while in the treatment room.
The treatment machine does not touch you, but it may move around your body and you will probably hear the machine humming during actual treatment. The radiation is delivered in just several minutes.
After the treatment, you will get up from the table, get dressed, and continue on with your day. You will return the next day for another dose of radiation – the same amount – as the next part of your treatment.
Radiation therapy is delivered one day at a time (a method called fractionalization) so that any affected normal cells are given a chance to repair themselves. Fractionalization also lessens side-effects, like fatigue and low blood count.
ST. LUKE'S EPISCOPAL HOSPITAL | 6720 Bertner | Houston, TX | 77030 USA | Telephone: 832-355-1000
