With cancer, even one surviving cell can spell future trouble. That means when planning an effective cancer therapy, radiation oncologists must focus beams of radiation on the entire tumor—including a small margin of healthy tissue that surrounds it.
Unfortunately, treating that necessary margin of healthy tissue can be the cause of uncomfortable side effects. Where the margin includes vital organs, radiation therapy is sometimes too dangerous to be administered, and for these patients treatment options have been limited.
But with IMRT at Providence, radiation therapists can precisely vary the dosage of radiation according to the health of the tissue. The result is more radiation where you want it (at the tumor site) and less radiation where you don’t.
Because IMRT is more precise than conventional radiation therapy, more planning is involved. During initial visits to Radiation Oncology Services, radiation therapists create comfortable, customized body forms in which a patient will lie during treatment to ensure consistent, accurate quality control of the therapy.
Greater precision demands a more personalized treatment plan for every patient. Aided by the latest technology, Providence radiation therapists devise and employ the safest and most effective means of fighting cancer.
