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Prostate Cancer
External Beam Radiation Therapy
External Beam Radiation Therapy
External beam radiation therapy is a method for delivering a beam of high-energy X-rays to the location of the patient's tumor. The beam is generated outside the patient (usually by a linear accelerator) and is targeted at the tumor site. Careful treatment planning allows the surrounding normal tissues to be spared.
Holy Cross Hospital Expertise
The Holy Cross Hospital
Radiation Treatment Center uses high-energy linear accelerator including
the VarianT 2100EX and Novalis® image-guided
radiotherapy (IGRT) system. External beam radiation is usually delivered
with intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT)-a technique that
allows our radiation oncologists to carefully conform the radiation dose
around the prostate gland, thereby sparing normal tissues.
The Novalis system also offers another key feature to improve radiation therapy for prostate cancer. Because the prostate gland can move as one inch in various directions depending on how much urine is in the bladder or how much gas or stool is in the rectum, it is very important that the radiation oncology team carefully target it. The Novalis system employs the sophisticated ExacTrac® software system, which relies on marker seeds to target the prostate immediately prior to treatment. The ExacTrac system allows our radiation oncologists to treat less bladder and rectum by using tighter margins around the prostate gland, since the targeting technology is so precise.
| Learn More About External Beam Radiation Therapy | |
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Learn about benefits of external beam radiation therapy and Holy Cross Hospital expertise |
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Learn about radiation safety |
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Possible side effects and complications |
About Prostate Cancer
Treatment Options