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NEW TECHNOLOGY OFFERS HOPE
The Albemarle Hospital Regional Oncology Center, located
on the hospital campus, opened in the spring of 2003. The
center's warm, inviting atmosphere and caring and competent
staff are a perfect compliment to state-of-the-art technology
used to treat patients with a variety of types of cancer.
In a little more than two years, the Albemarle Hospital
Regional Oncology Center has amassed several pieces of highly
advanced equipment to treat patients. In 2005, the center
acquired a new GE four-slice CT scanner with a wide-viewing
area. This, coupled with a GE computer simulation program,
and sophisticated LAP laser marking system that pinpoints
an exact area of treatment, allows patients to receive diagnostic
imaging, treatment set-up, and treatment, in the same building.
The advantages of this system include saving patients time
by allowing our staff to map out their care, and provide
treatment in a single location; and an accuracy that allows
us to focus on an exact location within the body, sparing
as much surrounding tissue as possible from potential damage.
Through a sophisticated laser marking system, the simulator
pinpoints an exact area for treatment. The patient's treatment
area can now be accurately marked and recorded, while still
in the CT scanner - eliminating a step in the treatment
process. Information from the simulator is then transferred
to the Eclipse Treatment Planning System, and then to a
linear accelerator for radiation treatment.
We recently added another state-of-the-art method of cancer
treatment that delivers high doses of radiation directly
to the cancer cells in a very targeted way, again with much
more precision than conventional radiotherapy. Intensity-Modulated
Radiation Therapy (IMRT) uses computer-generated images
to plan, and then deliver, tightly focused radiation beams
to a cancerous tumor, encompassing it in a three-dimensional
radiation "cloud," within the intersection of
several beams which are delivered from different angles.
The process begins when diagnostic images are converted
to three-dimensional models which allow a treatment plan
to be developed, based on tumor size, shape, and location
within the body, combined with the physician's dose instructions.
Treatment can then begin in our linear accelerator, which
is equipped with a special beam-shaping device called a
multileaf collimator (MLC).
The 120 tungsten leaves, or slats, of our MLC precisely
shape the beam of radiation. The MLC is dynamic, and moves
during treatment, varying the dose delivered across each
beam; this allows high doses of radiation to be delivered
to the tumor, while preserving more of the healthy tissue
around the affected area.
Although IMRT may not be appropriate for all patients,
clinical studies have shown that higher dose rates, delivered
through this technique, are improving the rate of tumor
control. With early detection, IMRT may be able to eradicate
tumors before cancer spreads; and physicians can treat cancers
that were previously untreatable with radiation therapy.
In addition, IMRT can usually be done on an outpatient basis.
The greatest technology doesn't mean a lot without qualified
people to operate it, and nurture patients through their
treatment. Staff Radiation Oncologist Cynthia Ballenger,
M.D., is licensed in three states and certified by the American
Board of Radiology. The North Carolina native served as
the Assistant Professor of Radiation Oncology at Emory University,
in Atlanta, before joining the Albemarle Hospital Regional
Oncology Center. She also served as a radiation oncologist
at Duke University Medical Center's Department of Radiation
Oncology. Other Albemarle Hospital Regional Oncology Center
staff includes three registered radiation therapists, a
registered nurse, a physicist, and a dosimetrist.
Albemarle Hospital offers multi-dimensional cancer treatment
including surgery, radiation oncology, chemotherapy in its
ambulatory infusion center, pastoral care, and a palliative
care program. The hospital also sponsors various support
groups for patients and their families, and works closely
with the American Cancer Society to provide education, cancer
prevention information, and screening programs for residents
in its seven-county service area.
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