New Diagnostic and Treatment Options
at Good Samaritan Hospital Cancer Center

Tomotherapy
Tomotherapy is the first radiation therapy treatment system to combine imaging for patient positioning with advanced intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT). Since treatment planning, positioning images, and helical radiation delivery are combined into one system, the precision and efficiency of radiation delivery is dramatically improved. This minimizes side effects for the patients and decreases the time required for treatment. Tomotherapy is used most often to treat tumors of the prostate, head, neck and brain. Good Samaritan Hospital is one of the few sites in the United States to offer this enhanced form of radiation treatment.

Stereotactic Radiosurgery
Stereotactic radiosurgery delivers a highly concentrated dose of radiation precisely directed at a brain abnormality in order to stop the growth, eliminate the abnormality, or relieve the symptoms caused by the abnormality. Conditions treated with stereotactic radiosurgery include primary brain tumors, some metastatic brain tumors, arteriovenous malformations, and acoustic neuromas.

HDR Brachytherapy
High dose rate brachytherapy (HDR) delivers a radioactive source directly to the tumor site. HDR brachytherapy is frequently used to treat endometrial and cervical cancers. HDR brachytherapy may also used to treat prostate cancer, lung and esophageal tumors, sarcomas, and tumors of the head and neck.

Mammosite Brachytherapy
Mammosite is a new system for delivering high dose rate brachytherapy to the breast for women who have undergone lumpectomy. Instead of receiving radiation daily for six weeks, women who are appropriate candidates receive HDR brachytherapy twice daily for 5 days.

SonArray Ultrasound
SonArray ultrasound used to localize the prostate and adjust patient positioning prior to each IMRT treatment, making the delivery of radiation therapy even more precise.

Palliation of Bone Metastases with One Treatment

• A recently completed study may provide substantial benefit to patients with bone metastases. Radiation therapy is effective in providing palliation of pain from bone metastases. The standard course of treatment in this country has been daily treatment for ten days. For patients with significant pain, it can be difficult to make the daily trip for treatment for two or more weeks. A randomized prospective trial from the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group compared the standard 30 Gy in 10 treatments to a single dose of 8 Gy in patients with painful bone metastases from breast or prostate cancers.
• The single dose of treatment was just as effective in providing pain relief as the longer course of treatment. A substantial number of patients were able to get completely off of all narcotic pain medications. The single treatment was also associated with very few acute side effects.
• This does not apply to patients with spinal cord or nerve root compression, or to patients with a pathologic fracture.
• Our co-director for Radiation Oncology, William Hartsell M.D., was the principal investigator for the study.

New Diagnostic Technologies
New diagnostic technologies recently implemented at Good Samaritan Hospital include computer-aided detection (CAD) for enhanced interpretation of screening and diagnostic mammograms, as well as MRI of the breast. Breast MRI will be used as an adjunct to mammography and breast ultrasound to aid in the diagnostic evaluation of benign breast disease and early cancer detection. Another recent innovation is PET scanning, which will allow for increased detection of metastistic breast cancer and a more sensitive determination of the efficacy of breast cancer therapies.

PET/CT
PET/CT fusion scanner allows doctors to more easily diagnose and stage cancers of the breast, lung, head and neck, and colon along with melanoma.

Patients are injected with a low dose of radioactive material that is absorbed by metabolically active cells, including malignant tumors. The PET scanner detects the radiation emitted from the tumors, while the CT scanner produces high resolution images, providing doctors with data that helps them plan and assess treatment.

PET/CT offers faster, more comfortable procedure for patients and provides highly accurate results.

Chemo-Embolization
Chemo-embolization enables doctors to deliver chemotherapy drugs via microcatheters into select arteries that solely supply tumors, which aids in the treatment of liver cancer and other forms of cancer that have spread to the organ.

A high dose of drugs can be delivered directly to the tumor, while the remainder of the liver is spared. Patients experience fewer side effects than in traditional chemotherapy since drugs bypass other organs.

This procedure temporarily shrinks tumors or slows their growth, which can preserve liver function and prolong life in patients who've already received chemotherapy or whose cancer is advanced.

Radiofrequency Ablation
Radiofrequency ablation allows doctors to treat liver cancer by killing liver tumors with heat by inserting a probe into the center of the tumor. An electrical current runs through the probe and destroys the malignant cells within 15 - 45 minutes. Consequentially, this procedure is low risk and patients heal much faster than they would after traditional surgery.

This treatment has been used most often in patients with liver cancer, particularly those who've failed traditional therapies or elderly patients unable to undergo surgery. It also may be used to treat cancers of the lung, bone, kidney and soft tissues.

Contact Us
If you would like further information, please call 630-275-2300.