Today's sophisticated systems for treating cancerous tumors with radiation are now available to patients at the University of Minnesota Medical Center, a division of Fairview. Together, the TomoTherapy HI-ART System and the Gamma Knife, enhance the University of Minnesota Medical Center's world-renowned neuroscience and radiation oncology services; for patients, they offer another generation of incisiveness by delivering the most precise beam of radiotherapy to cancerous tumors while minimizing damage to healthy tissue.
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"The Gamma Knife and TomoTherapy provide the full range of radiosurgery with the most modern and longest-proven technology," says Stephen J. Haines, M.D., professor and head, University of Minnesota department of neurosurgery (pictured far left with Kathryn Dusenbery, M.D.). |
The addition of the treatment systems are the result of a cooperative effort by the University of Minnesota Medical Center, University of Minnesota Physicians and community physicians. The Gamma Knife focuses radiation for the precise treatment of brain tumors and other intracranial (inside the skull) conditions. TomoTherapy uses computed tomography (CT) imaging and intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) to tailor the radiation therapy to the changing size, shape and location of tumors; it is particularly beneficial to cancers of the prostate, head and neck.
TomoTherapy and the Gamma Knife Center are located in the radiation therapy area on the first floor of the hospital's University campus.
Gamma Knife Center
Gamma Knife is a powerful radiation tool that, like TomoTherapy, focuses beams of radiation on the tumor site, with minimal effects on surrounding tissue. The Gamma Knife delivers 201 beams of radiation that intersect on a targeted area of abnormal or cancerous tissue within the brain.
The Gamma Knife is very precise in its ability to damage or destroy unhealthy tissue while sparing adjacent healthy brain tissue. Gamma Knife treatment requires no incision and benefits patients with nonmalignant conditions such as vascular malformation, severe facial pain (trigeminal neuralgia) and other intracranial conditions.
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TomoTherapy
TomoTherapy offers significant advantages over traditional radiation delivery systems, says Kathryn Dusenbery, M.D., associate professor and head of radiation oncology. University of Minnesota Medical Center is the only Minnesota facility with Tomotherapy.
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The University of Minnesota Medical Center is the only health care facility in Minnesota to offer TomoTherapy, a cancer treatment system that combines CT system with radiation therapy so CT images can verify the precise size, shape and location of a patient's tumor.
This information becomes part of the treatment plan, calculated daily before every treatment session begins.
The TomoTherapy system delivers IMRT. One of the most important recent advances in radiation treatment, IMRT involves changing the size, shape and intensity of the radiation beam to conform to the specific dimensions and position of a patient's tumor each day. This minimizes damage to healthy tissue, can minimize side effects and is particularly important for tumors near sensitive organs.
"This system is particularly useful in treating cancers of the prostate, head and neck," says Kathryn Dusenbery, M.D., associate professor and head, therapeutic radiology, Fairview- University. "TomoTherapy offers significant advantages over traditional radiation delivery systems."
