Advancements in Radiation Oncology

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COVER FEATURE

Radiation

Oncology

Thanks to powerful new technology at Alliance Cancer Care in Huntsville, radiation treatment for certain brain tumors that used to take six weeks can now be completed in minutes.

The Alliance office on the Huntsville Hospital campus is the first medical practice in Alabama, and one of only 10 nationwide, to pair a latest-generation Versa HD linear accelerator with ExacTrac advanced image guidance.

Dr. Hoyt A. “Tres” Childs, III Dr. Noel C. Estopinal Dr. Elizabeth Falkenberg Dr. John Francis Gleason, Jr. Dr. Harry James McCarty III Dr. Traci Cole McCormick (Decatur) Dr. Stanley Clarke (Florence)

Photo Credit: Steve Babin

Alliance Radiation Oncology

Photo Credit: Steve Babin

Radiation oncologist Dr. John F. “Jack” Gleason Jr., medical director of Alliance’s radiosurgery program, said the new system improves both the speed and the effectiveness of radiation therapy for certain tumors.

The advanced image guidance ensures that the radiation beam hits only the tumor, Dr. Gleason said, which better preserves the surrounding healthy tissue. And because the new linear accelerator delivers radiation in higher doses than conventional radiation therapy, it can kill a brain tumor in a fraction of the time. Instead of 30 or more visits spread across six weeks, Dr. Gleason said many patients treated with the new radiosurgery system will need a single non-invasive treatment lasting about half an hour.

“If we deliver all the radiation to a tumor in one day, it’s harder on the tumor than spreading the same dose over

several weeks,” he said. “So this is a more clinically effective dose.”

Alliance Cancer Care has three Huntsville locations – at Huntsville Hospital, Crestwood Medical Center and Clearview Cancer Institute – plus offices in Decatur and Florence. The Huntsville physician team includes Dr. Gleason, Dr. Hoyt A. “Tres” Childs III, Dr. Noel C. Estopinal, Dr. Elizabeth Falkenberg and Dr. Harry James McCarty III. Dr. Traci McCormick and Dr. Stanley Clarke see patients at Alliance’s Decatur and Florence offices, respectively.

The new system in Huntsville eliminates the need for one of the most unpleasant parts of radiosurgery: head frames. With many older systems, a large frame would be attached to the patient’s skull with bone screws. The frame provided the coordinates needed to direct the radiation beam to the tumor lurking inside the brain, but it could be painful.

Photo Credit: Steve Babin

Introducing our latest technology:

Alliance Radiosurgery: Focused on you.

Locations

Clearview Cancer Institute Crestwood Hospital Huntsville Hospital/Blackwell Medical Tower Decatur Florence

AllianceCancerCare.com/ Alliance-Radiosurgery

Physicians now instead use image guidance from MRI and CT scans of the patient both before and during treatment, along with the ExacTrac system which gives instantaneous feedback on patient position in all six dimensions, to make sure the radiation beam hits the target with an accuracy of less than a millimeter. No frame necessary. If a patient has more complicated brain lesions or a condition like trigeminal neuralgia that can be treated with either radiation or surgery, Alliance physicians and the neurosurgeons at Huntsville Hospital Spine & Neuro Center collaborate on a treatment plan. Dr. Holly Zywicke is medical director of the neurosurgery side of the partnership.

The multidisciplinary approach “improves the safety and quality of treatment, and it spares the patient from having to go see two different physicians,” said Dr. Zywicke. The term “radiosurgery” is a bit of a misnomer since it’s not a surgical procedure. There are no incisions, and the patient remains awake while the radiation attacks the tumor. “Patients don’t even feel the treatment,” said Dr. Gleason.

Alliance Cancer Care’s radiosurgery program can treat these cancerous and non-cancerous conditions:

• Brain metastasis

• Trigeminal neuralgia

• Meningioma

• Acoustic neuroma

• Recurrent glioma

• Lung Stereotactic Body Radiotherapy (SBRT)

• Liver SBRT

• Spinal SBRT

• Bone metastasis

Photo Credit: Elekta