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Radiation Therapy

More than 50 percent of all cancer patients benefit from radiation therapy (also known as radiotherapy), which uses high-energy beams to pinpoint and destroy cancer cells. While similar to an X-ray, the radiation used in cancer treatments is precise and customized to each patient’s cancer, most often on an outpatient basis. You will likely be lying down comfortably to receive your treatment.

For several cancers, radiation therapy may be recommended to help shrink a relatively large, advanced tumor before surgery or chemotherapy. Or, you may benefit from radiation therapy to eliminate any residual cancer cells remaining after surgery. In other cases, radiation might be recommended for a recurrence of cancer. Some patients receive radiation therapy as the only treatment necessary to combat their cancer.

What to Expect

Fighting cancer is challenging. To help you prepare for the fight, here is a brief outline of what you can expect during treatment with radiotherapy or radiosurgery. The details of some of the steps may differ, depending on your particular case.  Click on each title to expand the area and read more.

Step 1: The Consultation

Step 2: Imaging

Step 3: Treatment Plan

Step 4: Getting Positioned for Treatment

Step 5: Treatment Begins

Step 6: Post Treatments and Follow-ups

Meet your Team

Radiation treatment is administered to you by a team of highly qualified healthcare professionals. This team is comprised of specialists that among them have years of experience in treating cancer.

Dr. Kim is your radiation oncologist throughout this process—a medical doctor who specializes in the use of radiation for treating cancer. Dr. Kim will prescribe, plan and direct your treatment and is responsible for deciding what method of radiation therapy is indicated for your case.

The medical physicist works with the dosimetrist and Dr. Kim to measure the precision of your treatment plan, working with the equipment to calculate the best angles to treat your tumor, or tumor site. The medical physicist also conducts frequent safety checks and makes sure that the equipment is working properly.

The dosimetrist works closely with Dr. Kim and medical physicist in designing your treatment. The dosimetrist prescribes the length of time for each pulse of radiation, and develops strategies on how best to avoid giving radiation to healthy tissue in your body.

The radiation therapist will conduct your treatment each session. He will position you on the treatment table so that radiation can be delivered, run the equipment, and work very closely with the medical physicist during your treatment.

The radiation nurse coordinates your care, helps you learn about treatment, and tells you how to manage any side effects that you might experience.

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