The goal of any cancer therapy is cure without recurrence. But patients have other concerns as well – reducing side effects, minimizing time spent at the hospital and returning to a normal lifestyle as quickly as possible.

The latest radiation therapies are not only very powerful but they also allow patients to be treated comfortably in an outpatient setting. High-dose-rate (HDR) brachytherapy is a highly concentrated form of internal radiation that is administered in a matter of minutes and then repeated several times over a few days or weeks. The goal is to target the cancer cells without damaging surrounding healthy tissue.

“Certain tumors require higher doses of radiation than can be safely delivered with external-beam radiation,” explains Jo Ann Chalal, MD, Medical Director of Radiation Oncology at St. Francis Medical Center.

Brachytherapy is the placement of radioactive sources directly into the tumor-bearing tissue. It has been available at St. Francis Regional Cancer Center for more than 20 years but only recently in an outpatient setting. This is due to the 2006 acquisition of a new state-of-the-art HDR unit.

“HDR brachytherapy permits higher doses of radiation to be targeted directly to a tumor,” she states. “That means that the tumor is getting a much higher dose than the surrounding tissue would be able to tolerate if only external-beam radiation were used.”

At St. Francis, HDR brachytherapy is currently used to treat select patients with early-stage gynecological or breast cancers. To learn more, visit our Web site at www.stfrancismedical.com or call 609-599-5179.