Radiation Therapy

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At UMMC, we perform many types of radiation therapy, including:

Gamma knife radiosurgery
- Requires no incision. The key to the success of Gamma Knife radiosurgery is its unique ability to precisely focus 192 individual beams of high-intensity radiation. The system precisely targets even the smallest tumors with sub-millimeter precision.
Image-guided radiation therapy with cone beam CT (IGRT)
- Is a technology advancement that enables the use of frequent imaging during a course of radiation therapy to support precision and accuracy in areas prone to movement, such as lungs and prostate gland, as well as for tumors located close to critical organs and tissues.
Intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT)
- Is an advanced mode of radiotherapy that allows computer-controlled radiation intensity to be changed (modulated) during treatment to support three-dimensional treatment precision and accuracy.
Hexapod robotic couch
- Six degree patient positioning robotic couch completes the IGRT localization chain by enabling accurate correction of misalignment before treatment delivery. This allows clinicians to reduce margins with confidence, escalate dose and move towards hypofractionated treatment regimes.
Stereotactic body radiation therapy
- Stereotactic body radiation therapy is a highly specialized form of external beam radiation therapy combining advanced technology and expert technique. In SBRT, exact localization of tumors enables delivery of precisely focused radiation at higher potency doses and over fewer treatments than conventional radiation therapy, to maximize achievable outcomes with minimal collateral damage.
3D conformal radiation therapy
- 3D conformal radiation is a technique that allows doctors to direct radiation beams to conform to the shape of the tumor. Compared with historical, 2D radiation therapy, 3D conformal radiation more precisely delivers radiation to cancer cells, while reducing the amount of radiation to healthy cells.
Volumetric-modulated arc therapy (VMAT)
- Delivers helical-like dose conformance and reduced treatment times in one or multiple arcs while dynamically changing gantry speed, MLC leaves, dose rate and collimator angle. VMAT allows clinicians to treat targets more aggressively than ever before while sparing surrounding healthy tissue and reducing unwanted dose to organs and nearby critical structures.
High dose rate (HDR) brachytherapy
- Uses high intensity sources of radiation that are placed internally for a short time, usually a few minutes and often on an outpatient basis, in a small number of sessions over a few weeks. Works by precisely targeting the cancerous tumor. The source of radiation is placed directly next to the tumor.
4D radiation therapy
- Employs advanced technology to track and compensate for target motion during radiation treatment, minimizing normal tissue injury, especially to adjacent critical structures, while maximizing radiation dose to the target.
Intraoperative radiation therapy (IORT)
- Is an intensive radiation treatment that's administered during surgery. IORT allows the surgeon and radiation oncologists to directly irradiate the tumor bed, sparing surrounding healthy tissue. During the operation and immediately after the tumor is excised an approximate 30-minute irradiation procedure is performed.