Radiation Therapy
Radiation is one of the best tools in the fight against cancer. It can prevent cancerous cells from spreading into normal body tissues and can slow or stop tumor growth. In many cases, it can completely destroy tumors. Many types of cancer are treated with radiation therapy, including breast, prostate, colon and rectal, lung, head and neck, and brain cancer.
Doctors who use radiation to treat cancer are called radiation oncologists. At the Siteman Cancer Center, our radiation oncologists are national leaders in developing new treatments for cancer patients. Each specializes in treating particular types of cancer. This focused expertise is part of a team approach to care that also involves radiation therapists, nurses, medical physicists and dosimetrists as well as a social worker and dietitian.
Siteman’s radiation oncology program offers the most advanced technology available to treat patients, including the Varian Trilogy system, TomoTherapy Hi-Art treatment unit and Gamma Knife radiation tool. Siteman frequently partners with device manufacturers to test and develop new equipment. Most recently, our program was the first to:
ViewRay MRI-guided radiation therapy system
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Build a proton therapy treatment facility that uses a compact cyclotron to deliver treatment. The S. Lee Kling Center for Proton Therapy, currently under contruction, could serve as a model for making this powerful and precise therapy less expensive and more readily available. (Read more)- Receive a unique radiation therapy system that provides continuous magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) during treatment. The system, produced by ViewRay Inc., is currently being used for research only. (Read more)
To learn more about radiation therapy and Siteman’s expertise in this area, click on the links below.