Radiation Therapy & Radiosurgery

Advanced Radiation Treatment Close to Home

Radiation is one of the most successful tools for detecting and treating cancer. It’s used to destroy tumors, relieve symptoms, increase survival and improve your quality of life.

Cape Cod Healthcare’s Cancer Program gives you access to the same level of radiation imaging and leading-edge technology found at large academic medical centers, with all the benefits of being close to home. This includes advanced equipment and technology upgrades at Clark Cancer Center in Falmouth with the installation of a new linear accelerator for enhanced accuracy and speed of radiation treatment delivery. Additionally, ExacTrac BrainLAB technology provides a tool for delivering radiation therapy with detailed precision through enhanced patient monitoring during treatment delivery and tumor targeting.

External Beam Radiation Therapy (EBRT)

Radiation therapy delivered from outside the body is called external beam radiation therapy. This type of radiation uses powerful X-rays to destroy tumors while minimizing injury to surrounding tissues. Cape Cod Healthcare has the latest EBRT technology, including:

• Image-guided radiation therapy (IGRT) – This delivers radiation precisely to tumors while the technician is looking at a live image of the area being treated.
• Intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) – This therapy has the ability to target specific areas in tumors with varying amounts of radiation based on 3-D imaging showing all angles of the tumor.
• Stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) – Primarily used for brain and lung tumors, this uses a precisely mapped coordinate system to destroy the targeted tumor in a few high-level doses that can be accurate down to one or two millimeters.
• Stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) – Similar to SRS, SBRT focuses on tumors outside the central nervous system, such as the lung, liver and prostate. For SRS and SBRT, we use the TrueBeam™ radiosurgery system, known for its speed and precision in helping physicians manage complex cancers.
• Superficial Radiation Therapy – This treatment uses X-ray to administer a shallow dose of radiation while protecting the structure beneath the skin.

Brachytherapy

Brachytherapy is a type of radiation delivered inside the body through radioactive seeds or sources placed in or near the tumor. Brachytherapy provides high-dose radiation to the cancerous tissue while reducing radiation exposure to the healthy tissues around it.

• High-dose rate (HDR) – This delivers radiation in precise, controlled doses through a surgically placed applicator. It may be used to treat some gynecological cancers.
• Prostate seed implants – These radioactive seeds inserted into the prostate can kill a tumor within six to 12 months.

Your Care Team

Our dedicated team of radiation experts includes board-certified physicians, nurses with advanced training, radiation therapists, physicists and dosimetrists (who work closely with radiation oncologists to prepare your individualized, precise therapy) and social workers, all focused on your care and well-being. Specialists from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute partner with our team for consultations and second-opinions.

Cape Cod Healthcare also offers a full range of support services for cancer patients and their families, including counseling, education, financial and insurance information, and networking. We will be your partner as you navigate cancer.

Learn More

The American Cancer Society has more information on radiation therapy.