IN
THE FIGHT AGAINST CANCER, HOW WOULD YOU LIKE TO OUTNUMBER
YOUR OPPONENT 360 to 1?
Tomotherapy® Runs Rings Around Cancer
Treatment
It's comfortable to know the road to recovering
from cancer leads nearby to OncoLogics.
Oncologics is the leading innovator of cancer treatment in
Acadiana, and with the recent addition of the TomoTherapy
Hi-Art System™ is the only comprehensive radiation
oncology facility in Southwest Louisiana.
OncoLogics' TomoTherapy Hi-Art System™
is a revolutionary way to treat cancer with radiation. The
precise location of a tumor is recorded during each treatment.
Painless and precise intensity modulated radiation beams at
targeted directly at the tumor, circling it from 360 different
angles, minimizing exposure to normal, healthy tissue.
TomoTherapy is the most advanced
radiation system of its' kind available at less than 50 centers
in the U.S. — one of them is OncoLogics.
How TomoTherapy Works
The TomoTherapy Hi-Art System is a new, revolutionary way
to treat cancer with radiation. With TomoTherapy, your physician
can check the location of your tumor before each treatment
and then deliver painless, precise intensity modulated radiation
therapy (IMRT) based on a carefully customized plan. This
technology targets radiation beams directly at the tumor
and minimizes exposure to normal, healthy tissue. TomoTherapy
is the most advanced radiation system available. It is the
first device of this kind and is available at only 50 centers
nationwide-one of them is now OncoLogics.
Benefits of TomoTherapy
- Locates tumors before each treatment with VRCT
- Delivers precise treatment with rotating beamlets
- Targets large, small and/or multiple lesions
- Minimizes radiation to healthy tissue
The most advanced and integrated cancer treatment system
available.
The Two Step TomoTherapy Process
Tomo-Graphy: Your therapist can take a verification CT image
(VRCT) before each treatment to make sure our TomoTherapy
treatment is targeted to the exact location of your tumor.
Some types of tumors can change shape or even shift from
day to day. With TomoTherapy's VRCT, your physician can be
sure that each treatment is targeted right where it should
be.
Tomo-Therapy: The TomoTherapy Hi-Art SystemTM uses a rotating
beam of radiation that is constantly modulated to target
the exact size and shape of your cancer. During your treatment,
the TomoTherapy Hi-Art SystemTM focuses radiation on the
tumor area while minimizing damage to healthy tissue.
Before each treatment, the therapist can take a VRCT image
of the treatment site to check it's exact size, shape and
most importantly, location. Because physicians can more accurately
locate the tumor with the TomoTherapy Hi-Art SystemTM, they
can also reduce the amount of radiation that healthy tissues
receive. Radiation is concentrated where it is needed most,
at the tumor site.
During your treatment, the radiation rotates 360 degrees,
while the couch moves through the Hi-Art machine. While conventional
radiotherapy delivers a wide beam of radiation from just
a few directions, the TomoTherapy Hi-Art SystemTM delivers
small beamlets of radiation from every point on a spiral.
The rotating TomoTherapy therefore can accurately shape the
radiation as prescribed by your physician and it can treat
both large tumors and multiple sites at the same time.
Unlike older radiation therapies which required transferring
patient data between several different stations, the TomoTherapy
Hi-Art SystemTM is totally integrated. All patient information
is contained in one unit.
The Day of Treatment
After checking in for treatment, you will be
taken to the OncoLogics' TomoTherapy room where a radiation
therapist will help you onto the Hi-Art System's couch. You
will probably lie on you back, and the therapist may fit you
with a special device to help keep you still during your TomoTherapy
treatment. The procedure begins with the couch moving you
once through the machine for your VRCT imaging. Based on these
images' findings, the therapist may change your position or
move the couch slightly to make sure the treatment targets
the correct area. The couch will carry you through the machine
again, this time more slowly, as the Hi-Art System delivers
your treatment. The procedure usually lasts for about 15 minutes.
The procedure is painless and feels no different that having
a CT scan or an X-ray taken. You may hear a clicking noise
and the hum of the machine. These are normal operating sounds.
You will not feel or see the treatment as it is being performed.
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