Radiation Oncology
One of the three pillars in the treatment of cancer is Radiotherapy. Radiotherapy involves the use of ionizing radiation in an attempt to either cure or improve the symptoms of cancer. The Radiation Oncology Department in Savera Hospital is proud to install state-of-the-art linear accelerator,Clinac iX with flattening-filter-free (FFF) beam technology;
the first of its kind in India .It is capable of performing all the high end treatments like intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT), image-guided radiotherapy (IGRT), volumetric modulated arc therapy (Rapid-Arc), stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) with flattening-filter-free (FFF) beam technology.
There is facility for brachytherapy for all sites in the form of remote after loading high-dose rate (HDR) brachytherapy system with a 3D planning facility. The department works in close coordination with surgical oncology, medical oncology and other ancillary services.
We do have a tumor-board facilityin which eminent doctors from all the branches e.g. surgical oncology, radiation oncology, medical oncology, radiology, pathology etc. discuss all cases and chalk out the best possible treatment according to evidence-based medicine for a particular patient.
Facilities
EXTERNAL RADIOTHERAPY
2-Dimensional Conventional Radiotherapy : 2-4 field treatment using linear accelerator. All patients undergo CT-based planning
3-Dimensional Conformal Radiotherapy (3D-CRT) : It takes into account axial anatomy and complex tissue contours. The radiotherapy plans conform to the 3-dimensional shape of the tumor using multi-leaf collimators, thereby reducing the dose to surrounding normal structures.
Intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) : This is a specialised form of 3 D conformal radiotherapy. As the name implies, intensity-modulated radiation allows us to modulate the intensity of each radiation beam which is divided into thousands of beamlets, so each field may have one or many areas of high intensity radiation and any number of lower intensity areas within the same field, thus allowing for greater control of the dose distribution with the target. This achieves maximum dose envelop to the tumour sparing the surrounding normal structures.
Image-guided radiotherapy (IGRT) : IGRT is a step forward of IMRT in which various biological and anatomical imaging techniques are integrated into the radiation therapy process. The overall goal of IGRT is to target tumors more accurately while better sparing the normal tissues .Our machines have on board CT scanner with kV imaging facility capable of online and offline matching of planned image with treatment image accurately.
Volumetric modulated arc therapy (Rapid Arc) : Radiation machine rotates around the patient in single or series of arcs and also the shape and intensity of the beam changes as the machine rotates. A single treatment can be completed in 2-3 minutes time in this technique.
Stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) : Stereotactic body radiotherapy is a highly precise form of radiation therapy used primarily to treat tumors of the extracranial sites e.g. lung, prostate, spine etc. The technique uses highly focused x-rays to treat certain types of tumors, inoperable lesions and as an ablative treatment for metastatic lesions. The treatment involves the delivery of a high-dose of radiation beams that converge on the specific area of the extracranial site where the tumor resides.
Flattening-filter-free (FFF) technology : By removing the flattening filter from the linear accelerator, greater dose rate can be achieved due to physiologic property of flat beam. Advanced treatments like SRT (Stereotactic Radiotherapy), SBRT (Stereotactic Body Radiotherapy for lungs, prostate etc.) with use of state-of-the-art planning system can now be used to modulate non-flat high dose rate beams to achieve highly conformal dose distributions with a reduced treatment time.
BRACHYTHERAPY
- Intracavitary
- Interstitial
- Vaginal
- Intraluminal
- Surface mould
