Cancer Treatment
Comprehensive Cancer Treatment
June E. Nylen Cancer Center offers the latest advances in radiation therapy, including 3D treatment planning, as well as the newest types of chemotherapy. The three primary methods to treat cancer are surgery, radiation therapy and chemotherapy. Depending on your diagnosis, your treatment plan may include surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy or a combination of these approaches.
In addition to chemotherapy and radiation therapy, patients have access to advanced diagnostic procedures right here in the same facility.
Radiation Therapy
Radiation therapy uses high-energy x-rays to destroy cancer cells and shrink tumors. About half of all cancer patients receive radiation therapy as part of their cancer treatment. The goal is to destroy as many cancer cells as possible while limiting harm to healthy tissue. Your multidisciplinary care team will determine the amount and type of radiation therapy that is right for you based on your diagnosis, the location of your cancer, your overall health and your medical history. This is an important step in your treatment planning process.
Your radiation therapy team includes:
- Radiation oncologist is a doctor who specializes in treating cancer with radiation.
- Dosimetrists determine how to deliver the prescribed radiation dose to the targeted area while limiting the dose to the surrounding healthy tissue.
- Radiation physicist calibrate the equipment and make sure the radiation treatment machine delivers the correct amount of radiation to the right area.
- Radiation therapists deliver the radiation treatment.
- Radiation nurses perform routine patient evaluations during radiation treatment and monitor side effects.
Fighting Cancer with Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy uses special drugs to destroy cancer cells, including those that have spread (metastasized) to other parts of the body from the original tumor. Unlike radiation therapy, which targets a specific area, chemotherapy works throughout the entire body. Chemotherapy drugs are often more effective when used in combination with other drugs. It is common for doctors to use a mix of chemotherapy drugs to kill more cancer cells and reduce the risk of a patient becoming immune to a particular drug.
Your care team will speak with you about which drug or combination of drugs, as well as the frequency and length of treatment, is best for you. These decisions depend on several factors, including:
- Your overall health
- Type of cancer
- Location of the cancer
- Extent of cancer growth
A patient usually receives chemotherapy in cycles. Each cycle includes a treatment period of one or more days when treatment is given, followed by a recovery period of several days or weeks.
Chemo drugs can be given in a variety of ways:
- Injection into a vein through an IV or intravenous line
- Injection into a muscle or under the skin
- By mouth (oral)
Patients may request or be required to receive the drugs through a catheter or port-a-cath (often just called a port) – a thin, flexible tube that stays in place until treatment is over. Patients with catheters or ports avoid the discomfort of having a needle inserted into a vein for each treatment. Our team will explain the benefits of a catheter/port to you as well as how to care for it and keep it clean.
In most cases, our patients receive chemotherapy at the cancer center. However, a short hospital stay may be needed for some patients depending on the type of chemo drug given and the patient’s general health.
We encourage you to speak with your doctor or patient advocate if you have concerns about chemotherapy.
The side effects from chemotherapy vary greatly from patient to patient and depend on the drugs and doses a patient receives. Your doctor will tell you which side effects are most common with your chemotherapy treatment, how long they might last, and when you should seek medical attention for them. You may also receive medicine to prevent some side effects before they occur. Most side effects, such as hair loss, are temporary and will end once your treatment is over.
Chemo drugs affect cells that divide rapidly such as cancer cells as well as blood cells. Blood cells help fight infection, help the blood clot, and carry oxygen to the body. When blood cells are affected by chemotherapy, patients may experience side effects such as:
- Bleeding easily
- Increase in infections
- More bruising
- Tired or weak feeling
Rapidly dividing cells in hair roots and cells that line the digestive tract may also be affected. This can result in additional side effects including:
- Diarrhea
- Hair loss
- Nausea
- Poor appetite
- Vomiting
Many patients have questions about the side effects of chemotherapy and how to manage symptoms. We offer a variety of support services, including nutritional care and symptom management, to help patients feel their best during chemotherapy.
Hematology
Hematology is the treatment of blood disorders, blood diseases and conditions with the blood. Your blood affects all other organs as it flows through the body and therefore abnormalities in your blood can cause concern. You could be referred to see a hematologist at the cancer center for a variety of conditions, all related to your blood and blood production:
- Anemia
- Bleeding disorders
- Blood cancers such as leukemia, multiple myeloma, and lymphoma
- Blood cells
- Blood clotting (coagulation)
- Blood platelets
- Blood transfusions
- Bone marrow
- Cold Agglutinin
- Genetic blood disorders like Haemophilia and Thalassemias
- Sepsis
Even if you don’t have cancer, you may be treated by an oncologist because many are also board certified as hematologists. Decades ago, the majority of medicines developed to fight cancer had bone marrow suppression as their main side effect so doctors dealing with those medicines had to understand treating blood conditions as well. The June E. Nylen Cancer Center physicians and staff provide services for thousands of hematology-related visits each year. We are dedicated to your personalized blood-related care just as we are to our cancer patients.
Diagnostic Imaging
State-of-the art diagnostics allow your doctor to more accurately detect and stage cancer. CT scans and PET/CT scans are important tools in the diagnosis of cancer, including re-staging throughout treatment.
We have one of the most advanced CT scanners specific for oncology, allowing our team to provide more personalized treatment options. The Siemens Confidence RT Pro is a 64-slice CT scanner designed for initial cancer staging, radiation planning, re-staging and surveillance, as well as for screenings.
What to Expect During a CT Scan
A computed tomography (CT) scan is a "donut shaped" scanner that uses x-rays to produce images of your body. Depending on the type of scan ordered by your physician, this can take anywhere from 5 to 30 minutes. Your doctor may also decide that it is beneficial for you to drink Barium to enhance the visibility of your digestive tract or have intravenous (IV) iodine-based contrast to show details of your vascular system.
Our positron emission tomography (PET) scanner is the most advanced model on the market. It integrates a high-performance PET and 64-slice computed tomography (CT) into one machine and shows the highest possible resolution for each organ. Accurate staging of cancer requires early detection of even small lesions and the combination of PET and CT allows for a more accurate diagnosis of disease than either CT or PET alone.
What to Expect During a PET/CT Scan
Before your PET/CT scan, you will receive a glucose or sugar solution that contains a tiny amount of radioactive material through an IV. This solution is absorbed by your organs and tissues.
After approximately 60 minutes, you'll lie on a table and slide into the large, tunnel-shaped scanner. The PET/CT machine takes pictures showing where the glucose is being used in your body. Cancer cells grow quickly and use more glucose than normal cells. These images help your doctor see if cancer is present and how far it has spread.