Radiation therapy for cancer treatment

We offer brachytherapy — a sophisticated form of internal radiation therapy with many modern benefits — to treat prostate cancer, breast cancer and cervical cancer, as well as select other cancers. Brachytherapy directly targets the cancerous area inside or next to the tumor, protecting surrounding healthy tissue and offering a safe and effective alternative to surgical treatment.

Brachytherapy offers a short treatment time and no surgery. Benefits include preservation of healthy tissue, a quick recovery time, reduced risk of infection and a short or no hospital stay.

Brachytherapy can be delivered as a short course of treatment (high-dose rate, or HDR) or as a permanent implant (low-dose rate, or LDR).

With LDR brachytherapy, radioactive seeds are placed inside your body by a team of experts specially trained in this procedure, including your radiation oncologist. Your oncologist will create a personalized treatment plan to determine how many seeds need to be placed to most effectively treat your cancer.

With HDR brachytherapy, radioactive sources are loaded into catheters or cylinders positioned inside or near the tumor. This type of brachytherapy is performed on an outpatient basis over several days in the radiation department. While most HDR brachytherapy courses can be delivered to you as an outpatient, some may require an overnight hospital stay.

SAVI® is a new brachytherapy procedure that offers safe and effective radiation therapy for breast cancer patients in just five days.

After your surgeon performs a lumpectomy (removal of breast tumor), they will make a small incision in the breast and insert a small, soft SAVI® applicator through which the treatment will be delivered.

Radiation treatments are delivered twice a day over a consecutive five-day period for a total of 10 treatments. During each treatment, a catheter is attached to the applicator within the breast, then small radioactive seeds are inserted. These seeds remain within the device during treatment delivery. Each radiation treatment takes approximately 10 to 15 minutes, as determined by the treatment plan.

In some cases, brachytherapy is used to treat prostate cancer. This is typically an option for men who have early stage prostate cancer that has not spread beyond the prostate, who are unable or unwilling to undergo removal of the prostate or do not want to endure eight weeks of daily radiation treatments.

With prostate brachytherapy, radioactive seeds are placed in the prostate while you are in the operating room under general anesthesia. Your radiation oncologist utilizes ultrasound images to create a personalized treatment plan to determine the number and position of radioactive seeds.

This procedure allows you to go home on the same day as the procedure and return to a normal life.

The Radixact System shapes radiation to the tumor while sparing normal, healthy tissue.

Computer-controlled linear accelerators can be manipulated to deliver the radiation beam in the 3-D shape of the tumor, thus minimizing the effect on nearby tissue. With this targeted ability, the intensity of the radiation can also be adjusted during treatment, something not possible with conventional radiation. Treatment areas include:

• Brain

• Head and neck

• Prostate

Sharp has the following intensity-modulated radiation therapies.

• Accuray Radixact System 

• Elekta Versa HD

• SmartArc

• TrueBeam STx® radiotherapy/radiosurgery system

Radiosurgery is a noninvasive cancer treatment that precisely delivers high doses of radiation to destroy the tumor without damaging surrounding tissue. It can be delivered to almost any part of the body, including areas surgeons cannot access.

This treatment is ideal for brain tumors, hard-to-reach or small lung tumors and even tumors involving the spine.

While stereotactic radiosurgery is delivered in 1 fraction, your doctor may choose to deliver up to 5 fractions, which then makes it stereotactic radiotherapy.

Combining sophisticated imaging with treatment, during the procedure the linear accelerator rotates around you to deliver radiation treatment from nearly any angle.

The radiation beam is sculpted to match the three-dimensional shape of the tumor by using a multileaf collimator (MLC), a device with 120 computer-controlled mechanical "leaves" that can move to create different shapes and sizes.

Because of the equipment’s tremendous precision, full doses of radiation can be delivered quickly and accurately to the tumor with little or no damage to healthy surrounding tissue.

Our advanced communication technology allows for constant contact between you and the therapist operating the equipment, creating a soothing environment. You may also request music be played during treatment.

At Sharp, we offer the following radiosurgery treatments using image-guided radiotherapy (IGRT), Rapid Arc®/VMAT and IMRT techniques with state-of-the-art equipment.

• Elekta Versa HD linear accelerator — available at Sharp Grossmont and Sharp Memorial hospitals
  This equipment enables our team to customize your treatment to fit your unique needs — such as utilizing active breathing control to spare healthy tissues for breast cancer patients or treating brain tumors with highly precise stereotactic radiosurgery.

• TrueBeam STx® linear accelerator — available at Sharp Chula Vista Medical Center

  TrueBeam can be used for nearly all cancer types, especially those difficult to precisely target because they move, such as kidney, liver, lung and breast cancer by using deep inspiration breath hold techniques. TrueBeam also allows for new possibilities in treating brain tumors.

• Technique that requires you to hold your breath for 20 to 30 seconds during treatment planning, a CT simulation scan and radiation treatment

• Helps minimize any potential radiation damage to the heart. Because the heart is located on the left side of the body, we only use DIBH for patients with early stage cancer in their left breast. Body type and internal anatomy also affect whether DIBH will be useful during radiation therapy. For some people, even when they breathe normally, their heart will not be in the radiation field, so DIBH won't be necessary. We will make a recommendation for DIBH use after your first planning appointment or CT simulation scan.

• If you decide to perform deep inspiration breath hold, it helps to practice the technique before you begin actual radiation treatment.

• Watch our video to learn more about deep inspiration breath hold and view practice techniques. Para conocer más sobre la contención de respiración en inspiración profunda, vea las técnicas de práctica en este video en español.

• If you have questions about the deep inspiration breath hold, please talk with your radiation oncologist.

Respiratory gating allows treatment to be delivered only when the tumor passes through a predefined area.