| The Regional Cancer Center at Southeast Missouri Hospital has a comprehensive radiation oncology program.
Patients are referred to radiation oncology for evaluation, recommendations, and delivery of treatment. Radiation services are provided by our board-certified radiation oncologist: Joseph P. Miller, M.D. He works with a full complement of support staff, including medical physicists and a dosimetrist to develop precise treatment plans; radiation therapists to accurately align and deliver the treatments; and nurses to provide patient education, support, and coordination of treatments.
Patients also have access to case managers, dietitians, therapists, and chaplains to meet their various physical and emotional needs.
The Regional Cancer Center will soon be the first and only facility in Cape Girardeau County and surrounding area to offer MammoSite high-dose radiation therapy in 2006 for the treatment of early stage breast cancer. This breakthrough treatment delivers high-dose brachytherapy to some women with Stage I and II breast cancer.
MammoSite /HDR can reduce radiation treatment times from standard 33 treatments over six-and-a-half weeks beginning two weeks after surgery, to just 10 treatments over the course of five days, beginning two days to six weeks post-operatively. MammoSite is used following a lumpectomy to surgically remove a cancerous lump. After surgery, a radiation oncologist delivers the high-dose rate brachytherapy treatments into the tumor bed twice per day for five days. The high doses of radiation emitted into the tissue around the tumor bed kill any remaining cancerous cells from the inside out.
Southeast Regional Cancer Center also installed a new Brilliance CT Big Bore Oncology Simulator in 2006. The configuration, designed specifically for radiation oncology, provides improved image quality, accuracy and workflow efficiency, while facilitating shorter exam times for patients. Featuring an intuitive workflow environment, the system provides flexibility and ease of use. Brilliance CT Big Bore allows breast positioning, prostate treatment, respiratory gating studies, integrated absolute marking and functional CT exams, options not previously available in one location. Philips exclusive CT localization (CT L.O.C.) application is directly on the console, allowing clinicians to localize the tumor and mark the patient for therapy delivery without leaving the console.
Our Regional Cancer Center has also invested in a new superficial x-ray therapy system used to treat skin cancer. It is the only system in the region.
World-class technology also is incorporated into the Regional Cancer Center's Vaarian Clinac 21EX linear accelerator. Southeast has the same linear accelerator technology found at internationally-known cancer centers including M.D. Anderson, Memorial Sloan-Kettering, Johns Hopkins, Stanford and the Mayo Clinic. The accelerator is equipped to delivery Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT), one of the most precise forms of radiation therapy available. IMRT is often used to treat tumors that might have been considered untreatable in the past due to the close proximity of vital organs and structures.
Southeast Missouri Hospital Radiation Therapy services include Prostate Seed Program; Interstitial Implants; Intracavitary Implants; 3-D Treatment Planning System; GliaSite; Novalis Stereotactic Radiosurgery Program; HDR Brachytherapy; and a Superficial KV Unit with our primary focus on treating cancer patients. Southeast’s Neurosurgery facilities include the Vector Vision Neurosurgical Navigation System.
|
