Tacoma/Valley Radiation Oncology Centers » Radiation Therapy

HDR Fellowship Announcement

Tacoma Radiation — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 21:36:26 +0000

Tacoma/Valley Radiation Oncology Center is proud to announce their appointment to the American Brachytherapy Society’s High Dose Rate Brachytherapy Fellowship Program!

HDR Brachytherapy (hdr) is used to treat certain cancers by delivering radiation directly within the tumor or in the area where the tumor was removed. This procedure takes place within the comfort of our office. Since there is no overnight stay in a hospital, this typically results in less expense for our patients. Don’t live in Tacoma? Not a problem! We are proud to announce we are the first in the NW Region to offer Mobile HDR Service! What this means to you is that you can enjoy the convenience of leading edge technology in the comfort of our office closest to your home. Ask your doctor if HDR may be a consideration for you.

The exclusive NW providers of Hyperthermia treatment.

Tacoma Radiation — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 23:38:18 +0000

When it comes to fighting cancer, maybe it’s time to turn up the heat.

Hyperthermia therapy is a treatment used in battling cancer by heating tumors. The heating temperature is about as warm as a hot tub. Research has shown that heat can damage or kill cancer cells in some tumors while also making radiation therapy more effective in treating some tumors that are recurrent or progressive despite conventional therapy.

In clinical trials, data has shown that combining hyperthermia and radiation improves response rates for prostate, cervical, head and neck cancers, melanomas and soft tissue sarcomas. Most marked improvement has been seen in recurrent chest wall cancer-with complete response rate improvement of more than 40 percent.

We are proud to be the only practice in the Pacific NW (including Washington, Idaho, Oregon and Montana) to offer this advaned treatment modality. For more information, contact our doctors at Tacoma/Valley Radiation Oncology Centers or visit www.bsdmedical.com/patients.php.

Image-Guided Radiation Therapy (IGRT)

Tacoma Radiation — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 21:25:27 +0000

IGRT and its three-dimensional imaging system is one of the most sophisticated and advanced radiation therapy techniques available. Not only does IGRT enable your physician to pinpoint and “see” malignant tumors during treatment, this technology allows for improved accuracy and precise focus of the radiation beam, thereby sparing more of the healthy surrounding tissue and vital organs.

One challenge with conventional radiation treatment options has been to give a high enough dose of radiation to the tumor to be effective, while trying to protect as much of the surrounding healthy tissue as possible. Another challenge has been to accurately target the tumor. Patients and their organs move, and that means the tumor moves. The current method of locating a tumor uses CT scans before treatment. But because that location may move during the weeks of treatment, more of the surrounding healthy tissue is at risk and subject to radiation. IGRT takes into account variations in body and internal organ movement before and during treatment, helping doctors precisely locate tumors. The benefits of IGRT include:

Safely delivering higher, more effective doses of radiation
Offering new hope to patients with what were considered “untreatable” tumors
Helping to protect surrounding tissue
Shortening the overall treatment period
Reducing side effects and improving the patient’s quality of life