Radiation Oncology Treatments
Choose UHS for sophisticated New York oncology and radiation therapy—or radiotherapy—a painless, noninvasive cancer treatment at our cancer hospital.
Radiation Oncology at UHS
You and your doctor may choose to incorporate New York radiation therapy into your cancer treatment plan. Radiotherapy uses focused, high-energy beams to kill cancer cells only in the parts of your body where cancer is present.
Radiation Therapy at our Binghamton area location can be used alone or in conjunction with surgery and chemotherapy drugs to prevent cancer from coming back. There are different types of radiotherapies and you will work with your Radiation Oncologist to determine which course of treatment is right for you. If our Radiation Oncologist determines you can benefit from radiation therapy, a planning CT is done to help map out your treatments. A custom computer plan is created for the most accurate treatments. Once that is done, the patient comes back to start treatment.
Radiation Therapy Treatments
Treatment Systems
UHS offers two linear accelerators for radiation therapy treatments. The TrueBeam by Varian Medical Systems and the Versa HD by Elekta. Both provide advanced radiotherapy systems opening up treatment options for some of the most complex cancers in areas such as the head and neck, lung, breast, abdomen and liver. With advanced imaging capabilities and a robust treatment planning system, it allows our doctors along with physics staff the ability to tailor each treatment plan specifically to each patients individual needs.
Image-Guided Radiation Therapy (IGRT)
Image-guided radiation therapy in Binghamton delivers radiation directly to a tumor with remarkable precision using real-time imaging.
Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT)
IMRT uses a computer-controlled device that emits precise, high-energy radiation beams from multiple directions to destroy cancer cells. This process allows you to get higher radiation doses with minimal side effects to surrounding healthy tissue.
SRS/SBRT Stereotactic Radiosurgery/Stereotactic Body Radiosurgery
Limited to select cases, the most precise form of radiation therapy, which delivers very high doses of radiation to a specific target. Doing so spares most healthy tissue surrounding it. Most of these cases have minimal side effects while treating a very small area in a short course of treatment, usually 1-5 treatments in total.
Radiation Therapy Team
Throughout your Radiation Therapy journey, you will encounter several care professionals. Here are some of their roles:
- Radiation Oncologist: Physician who specializes in radiation therapy for cancer patients. The Radiation Oncologist is in charge of prescribing dose, approving custom computer plans for patient’s treatments and overseeing their treatments.
- Physicist: The physicist is in charge of overseeing dosimetry, computer planning and quality assurance for all equipment in the department.
- Dosimetrist: Creates custom computer plans for each patient to ensure we are sparing as much healthy tissue while achieving the highest dose to the tumor.
- Therapists: The radiation therapists are responsible for all planning sessions and delivering the radiation treatments. They see our patients every day throughout the course of treatment by localizing, imaging, and monitoring them from start to finish.
- Nursing: Our nurses are responsible for monitoring patient radiation side effects and overall well-being throughout their course of radiation. They normally see patients for teaching instructions at the beginning of treatment and at least weekly throughout.
- Administrative Support Staff: From addressing transportation needs to billing, authorizations and financial assistance, our multiple support staff are able to aid our patients to manage the many challenges they may encounter throughout their course of treatment.