Banner Good Samaritan recently became the first medical center in the Phoenix area to offer Tomotherapy, an advanced radiation device that can deliver highly targeted radiation for more accurate identification and treatment of cancerous tumors while reducing exposure of healthy tissue to radiation.

External beam irradiation continues to be a primary modality used in the conservative treatment of breast cancer, brain tumors, head and neck cancers, skin cancer, prostate cancer, gynecological cancers, and lung cancer. When combined with chemotherapy it is also a primary treatment modality or an effective adjuvant to surgery in the treatment of many gastrointestinal or colorectal malignancies, connective tissue tumors, bladder cancer and advanced breast cancer.

According to the National Cancer Institute, two thirds of all cancer patients receive radiation therapy during their illness. While the majority of our procedures involve external beam radiation treatment using linear accelerators, which include specialized techniques such as Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy, Stereotactic Radiosurgery, Fractionated Stereotactic Radiation Therapy and several other methods of radiation delivery are utilized when appropriate. These include High Dose Rate Brachytherapy, permanent Low Dose Rate Brachytherapy, Total Body Irradiation and Total Skin Electron Therapy. Banner Good Samaritan is the radiation therapy provider for Phoenix Children's Hospital, and Phoenix Indian Medical Center.

Radiation Oncology utilizes a team of radiation oncologists, medical physicists, dosimetrists, radiation therapists, oncology nurses, and support staff including social services and a registered dietician to provide the highest quality care. Each of these people plays a special role in delivering patient care. Our three board-certified Radiation Oncologists consult with patients to determine the best course of treatment.

The treatment is planned and verified with highest quality assurance by two board-certified dosimetrists and three physicists. Licensed radiation therapists deliver the planned treatments and our oncology nurses, social services and nutrition staff monitor the well-being of the patient.

Treatment planning is performed using advanced computer systems capable of reconstructing diagnostic images in three-dimensions. In order to precisely determine the location of disease, Positron Emission Tomography (PET), Computerized Tomography (CT) and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) may be utilized alone or in combination using advanced image fusion techniques. This provides the most precise planning of radiation delivery, to maximally treat the intended disease while sparing surrounding normal tissue to minimize side effects.

Treatments
Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT) uses highly advanced computer-generated planning to conform multiple radiation beams of differing intensities that are precisely shaped to the intended target volume. Because of the precision of these beams it is possible to deliver a higher dose to the target volume than with conventional radiation therapy, while significantly reducing doses delivered to healthy normal tissue.

TomoTherapy Hi-Art System® is an advanced radiation device used for the treatment of cancer. TomoTherapy provides physicians with 3-D imaging of a tumor. It delivers radiation from 360 degrees utilizing computerized tomography (CT scanning) with highly targeted radiation beams. This new system allows more accurate identification and treatment of cancerous tumors and reduces exposure of healthy tissue to radiation and treatment time for patients.

Stereotactic Radiosurgery (SRS) is the delivery of a single high dose of radiation to a small, well defined target within the head, while minimizing the radiation dose to the surrounding normal brain. It is a non-invasive procedure using a linear accelerator to deliver converging beams of high energy X-rays by rotating the beams about the target, and using a head fixation device to achieve extremely high levels of precision similar to that of the Gammaknife. In addition, we have the ability to deliver Fractionated Stereotactic Radiation Therapy, which is similar to SRS with the exception that multiple treatments are given using a head frame that can be removed between treatments and reapplied with high levels of reproducibility.

Total Body Irradiation (TBI) is used as a part of the City of Hope-Banner Bone Marrow Transplant Program and Total Skin Electron Therapy is utilized for treating mycosis fungoides and cutaneous T-cell lymphomas.

Brachytherapy involves placement of radioactive sources within the body to deliver local doses of radiation at High and Low Dose Rates. This may be done utilizing temporary placement of radioisotopes in intracavitary applicators such as gynecological applicators or the Mammosite® partial breast irradiation device, or in surgically implanted catheters, such as for lung, breast, head and neck, connective tissue, gastrointestinal malignancies and uterine disease. Brachytherapy also may be given with permanent implants of small radioactive seeds, used for prostate or brain tumors. All of these methods are highly effective at delivering a therapeutic dose to a small volume while sparing healthy tissue.