Deaconess Chancellor Center for Oncology - Newburgh, IN

Brachytherapy, also known as internal radiation therapy, is a form of radiation therapy where a temporary or permanent radioactive implant is placed inside the patient. This makes it possible to place a higher dose of radiation near the tumor, while reducing radiation exposure to other parts of the body. The radiation is delivered either by needles inserted into the tissue, or by a special applicator placed into a body cavity near the tumor. Special applicators could include tubes, capsules, or balloon-like material. Depending on the type of cancer and treatment, the implants can be left in place anywhere from a few minutes to a few months.

Image-Guided Radiation Therapy (IGRT) combines three-dimensional images, such as CT scans, with the precise technology of either 3-D or intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) to pinpoint and treat cancerous tumors. The images allow the cancer specialists to precisely localize the tumor each time radiation therapy is administered. This improves both accuracy of delivery and safety by reducing radiation exposure to other areas of the body including nearby tissue and organs. IGRT is used to treat tumors in areas of the body that are prone to movement, such as the lungs, liver, and prostate gland, as well as tumors located close to critical organs and tissues.

Intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) is an advanced form of external radiation treatment that allows precise targeting of tumor cells. The CT simulator localization scan or other three-dimensional images provide the radiation oncologist with an understanding of the shape and location of the tumor. With 3D planning, the radiation oncologist specifies the dose from various beams and sums up those doses to calculate the dose to tumor and normal tissue (forward planning). With IMRT, the radiation oncologist specifies the dose desired to give the tumor and the doses acceptable to the normal tissues (as low as possible). Then the computer system provides millions of alternative beam positions and the varying intensities of each beam, comparing one plan to the next until the best plan is identified. This is called inverse planning. Since each beam is broken up into many sub-beams of varying intensity the process is called intensity-modulated radiation.

Volumetric arc therapy (VMAT) is an advanced form of IMRT that allows a targeted, three-dimensional dose of radiation to be delivered directly to a tumor. The machine that delivers radiation can deliver the dose to the entire tumor in a 360-degree rotation, up to eight times faster than IMRT alone.