The Villager Newspaper Online Your Community News – Cleveland's Westshore
Seidman Cancer Center at University Hospitals Westlake Health Center has upgraded its
radiation treatment facility to provide state-of-the-art outpatient radiation therapy.
The newly installed Varian iX system offers advanced image guidance and treatment
accuracy which enables enhanced targeting of the cancer while simultaneously
maximally shielding adjacent normal tissue from potentially harmful effects of the X-Ray
beams.
Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT) is a specialized form of treatment in
which the radiation dose is delivered using small “beamlets” which are rapidly turned on
and off and delivered from various angles around the body. This technique effectively
“sculpts” the high-dose radiation area into irregular shapes to match an individual
patient’s anatomy which can lessen potential side-effect of treatment and also allow for a
higher dose of radiation which can increase the chance for cure.
The Varian iX provides the most precise treatment delivery available because it uses both
X-ray and cone-beam CAT scan technology to image the tumor area daily immediately
prior to each treatment to enable the physician and treatment team to optimally and
quickly align the patient so that the tumor is in the “crosshairs” of the machine with
certainty. Image guidance also allows for tracking the response to treatment (i.e. tumor
shrinkage) in selected cases.
In addition, Varian’s “RapidArc” innovation provides faster treatment using a technique
called volumetric modulated arc therapy. This reduces s treatment time to as little as three
minutes each day from the traditional 15-20 minutes. The faster delivery ensures that
patient movement and internal tumor movement will be at a minimum which increases
the accuracy of treatment and also greatly improves patient comfort and convenience.
The Seidman Cancer Center at UH Westlake Health Center treats adults with most types
of cancer and lymphoma.
Joel Elconin, MD, is the clinical director of Radiation Oncology at the UH Westlake
Health Center which is located at 960 Clague Road in Westlake, Ohio at the intersection
of Clague and I-90. He can be reached at 440-250-2011 and welcomes inquiries from
anyone who is interested in learning more about this exciting development in radiation
cancer medicine.
