Treatment Options
The Radiation Oncology Center at Methodist University Hospital offers a wide range of cancer treatment options.
Our treatment options include:
- Brachytherapy
- Conventional radiation therapy
- Image-guided radiation therapy (IGRT)
- Intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT)
- Stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT)
- Volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT)
Therapy Techniques
Magnetic Resonance Imaging-Guided Linear Accelerator (MRI-LINAC) Radiotherapy
The new modality termed Magnetic resonance linac (MRL) is the latest radiation therapy offered at Methodist. MRL performs MRI-based adaptive radiotherapy with unprecedented sensitivity. This helps radiologists determine the tumor response to treatment based on the combination of anatomical and functional imaging. Methodist Cancer Institute will be the only institution in the Memphis region with an Elekta Unity machine and provide this treatment technique, starting in fall 2022.
Dual Energy-Based Adaptive Radiotherapy
This technique uses anatomical imaging to visualize the tumor multiple times along the treatment sessions, allowing the care team to evaluate the tumor and adapt the treatment according to the tumor reduction.
Conventional Radiation Therapy
Radiation therapy includes a single beam of radiation delivered to the patient from several directions: front or back and both sides.
Brachytherapy
Brachytherapy techniques deliver highly localized irradiation, lowering the dose received by adjacent organs. We provide specialized treatments, including prostate brachytherapy, accelerated breast treatments and eye plaque treatments. Our eye plaque program includes specialists from Methodist Cancer Institute and the Hamilton Eye Institute.
Our Technology
The Methodist Cancer Institute program includes advanced radiation oncology. Highlights of our technology include:
Elekta Unity system: One of only a few globally available high-energy linacs with 1.5 T MRI makes it possible for our center to offer the latest advances in radiotherapy. This MRI image provides anatomical visibility of tumors and vital organs, which aids in improving patient survival.
Elekta Linac: The Elekta Linac has high-resolution MLCs (multi-leaf collimators) and a robotic couch, which provides standard and Stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) treatments. Both linacs have onboard Cone-Beam Computed Tomography (CBCT) and provide highly accurate patient positioning with millimeter precision and high conformality beams to direct the dose towards the tumor.
Dual-energy CT simulator: This system allows clearer visualization of tumors and organs and enables us to adopt innovative radiotherapy for head and neck cancer as well as prostate cancer.
Why Choose Methodist
Our Methodist Cancer Institute Team: Our experienced clinicians, medical physicists, dosimetrists, nurses and therapists are specially trained and have many years of radiotherapy expertise.
Safety: Safety is a crucial component in radiation oncology. Each treatment is rigorously reviewed and verified through our quality assurance and quality improvement programs before delivered to a patient. We are endorsing the highest standards for treatment accuracy and safety as described by the American Society of Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology, the American Association of Medical Physicists and the American Brachytherapy Society.
High-Quality Patient Care: We have earned the APEx - Accreditation Program for Excellence® accreditation from the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO). APEx provides external validation that our radiation oncology facility delivers high-quality, safe patient care. Being accredited means we have gone through rigorous evaluations, practice patient-centered care and are committed to the highest standards of safety and quality in the practice of radiation oncology.