|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
| Home > Patient Stories > Cancer |
|
|
|
"A No-brainer." - John McCarthy's
Story
When a St. John’s radiation oncologist told Buffalo resident John McCarthy, 72, about a
sophisticated new radiation treatment that could treat his throat cancer
while preserving his salivary function, McCarthy thought going through
with the treatment was a no-brainer.
 Then he learned he would be not only the first St. John’s patient to
undergo the new therapy – intensity modulated radiation therapy – but the
first patient in the region to undergo IMRT.
“The doctor told me I would be the first patient in the region to have
the therapy, which was kinda scary, at first, but I’m glad that I’ve gone
through with it. I thought, whatever functioning I can save, I should
save. It was a quality-of-life issue to me,” McCarthy says.
 The retired heavy-equipment operator, electrician and self-proclaimed
jack-of-all-trades had already undergone surgery in the summer of 2003 to
remove a cancerous tonsil, but because the cancer had spread, he needed
follow-up radiation treatment. IMRT allows oncologists to treat specific
portions of the body, while limiting the radiation dose to the surrounding
organs.
In McCarthy’s case, the new therapy, which he received five days a week
for six weeks starting Oct. 1, 2003, allowed him to keep his sense of
taste intact. A thermal plastic mask, molded to fit his head, allowed the
radiation beams to hit their target exclusively during the painless
20-minute treatments.
In addition to cancers of the head and neck, such as McCarthy’s, IMRT is
used to treat patients with cancers in other delicate or critical
locations in their body, such as in the eyes, spine, breast and prostate.
Malignancies in these locations are often adjacent to structures that
could be rendered functionless by the radiation used to kill the cancer,
says St. John’s Radiation Oncology Director Arnie Shreffler.
“IMRT allows us to beam high doses of radiation to tumors immediately
adjacent to those critical structures and drastically reduce the negative
side effects of radiation," he says.
The first step in having the capability to provide IMRT at St. John’s was
acquiring a new large-opening, oncology-specific CT scanner and new
computer system to formulate treatment plans for patients.
"The CT scanner, when used in radiation oncology, gathers large amounts of
anatomical data so that we can program our treatment-planning computer
systems with patient data. Those systems are used to plan the direction
and quantity of radiation beams that will be used to treat the patient's
cancer," Shreffler says. "The scanner's larger opening allows us to more
accurately assess the patient's anatomy because the patient will be in the
actual treatment position instead of just lying flat on a table like a
standard CT scanner would require."
Shreffler says IMRT is only possible when large amounts of high-quality,
digital patient data are available for treatment planning.
St. John’s treats about 950 cancer patients per year. About 15-18 percent of those patients, or approximately 150
patients per year, are candidates for IMRT, he says.
|
|
|