Madhu Chilukuri, PhD, Radiation Physicist
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 Greg House,
Manager, Radiation OncologyThe USA Mitchell Cancer Institute provides state of the art therapeutic radiation oncology services through its Tomotherapy System and Cyberknife. As the only outpatient facility in the region with both technologies under one roof, the Mitchell Cancer Institute is pleased to provide our patients with the most advanced radiation technologies available. Our radiation oncology team includes radiation oncologists, physicists, dosimetrists, technologists and nurses, all trained to deliver the best possible care.
The Mitchell Cancer Institute also includes the latest in diagnostic capabilities with a 64-slice PET/CT Scanner. This PET/CT Scanner is useful in diagnosing cancer at early stages and in planning for radiation treatment. |
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The Tomotherapy System
The Tomotherapy System has broad applicability to many forms of cancer, including cancers of the prostate, breast, lung, brain, head and neck, bone and soft tissue as well as lymphomas and multiple myeloma. Tomotherapy essentially combines Spiral CT Scanning and Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy. Intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) is an advanced mode of high-precision radiotherapy that utilizes computer-controlled x-ray accelerators to deliver precise radiation doses to a malignant tumor or specific areas within the tumor. IMRT allows for the radiation dose to conform more precisely to the three-dimensional (3-D) shape of the tumor by modulating—or controlling—the intensity of the radiation beam. IMRT also allows higher radiation doses to be focused to regions within the tumor while minimizing the dose to surrounding normal critical structures. As with a CT Scanner, the patient moves through the unit and a special X-ray therapy spirally rotates around the patient.
The Tomotherapy System uses hundreds of pencil beams of radiation spirally rotating around the tumor, focusing in from all directions. These pencil beams result in precise does distributions that conform to tumors and minimize damage to healthy surrounding tissues. |
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The CyberKnife® System
The CyberKnife® Robotic Radiosurgery System is a viable, non-invasive alternative to surgery for the treatment of malignant and non-malignant tumors anywhere in the body. The treatment – which delivers high doses of radiation to tumors with extreme accuracy – offers new hope to patients who have inoperable or surgically complex tumors, or who may be looking for an alternative to surgery.
The CyberKnife System uses image-guidance and computer controlled robotics to deliver multiple beams of high-energy radiation to the tumor from virtually any direction. Designed to treat tumors with sub-millimeter accuracy, the CyberKnife System tracks the tumor’s position, detects any tumor or patient movement and automatically corrects the treatment delivery. This outpatient procedure does not require anesthesia or invasive stabilizing frames. Most patients experience minimal recovery time and can return to normal activities almost immediately. In contrast to other radiation oncology technologies where doses are delivered over the course of 40 treatments, the Cyberknife delivers radiation over the course of one to five treatments. |
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The PET/CT Scanner
The PET/CT scanner at the Mitchell Cancer Institute combines two state of the art imaging modalities. By monitoring glucose metabolism, PET provides very sensitive information regardless of whether a growth within the body is cancerous or not. CT meanwhile provides detailed information about the location, size, and shape of various lesions but cannot differentiate cancerous lesions from normal structures with the same accuracy as PET. The combined PET/CT scanner merges PET and CT images together. |
