 Patient Process
Patients receiving radiation treatment at the Hsin Chu General Hospital can typically expect to experience severalstages of care.These stages are designed to establish whether a patient is a good candidate for radiation therapy, to diagnose a patient's condition, identify the location of cancerous tissue, and to prescribe and execute a treatment plan.
The following is a general description of the step-by-step patient process:
Referral ¡V
In many cases a patient that feels pain or discovers something that causes concern will first visit their primary care physician. Their physician may request x-ray imaging or a biopsy for the patient. This may lead to referral to a medical oncologist or a surgeon who would then recommend radiation therapy.
Simulation ¡V
The treatment planning session is administered using a device known as a simulator. It is used to create x-ray images of the patient and pinpoint the exact location of the tumor. These images are then used to create a three dimensional
picture of the patient's anatomy.
Treatment Planning ¡V
Once computer tomographic images of the patient have been obtained sophisticated computer applications are used by the attending physician to design a radiation treatment course, which includes the radiation dose and delivery.
The physician, also called the radiation oncologist, will the then refer the treatment course to a dosimetrist and/or a medical physicist, who will then create radiation calculations. Treatment calculations indicate the level of radiation energy to be applied, called the dose, the angle of the treatment beam and the amount of time for a given beam.
The calculations are given back to the radiation oncologist for approval or changes, once approved, the patient will be scheduled for their treatment sessions.
Radiation Therapy ¡V
Radiation therapy is the treatment of cancer using x-rays and other forms of radiation to destroy cancer cells.
The energy of the radiation is absorbed by cancer cells and results in damaging their genetic material so that they can no longer grow. Normal healthy cells are avoided through careful treatment planning and precise radiation delivery.
Because x-rays are light energy they pass through the human body. This allows for the treatment of cancers that are deep inside the body or located in areas that may be challenging to reach through surgery. Radiation therapy treatments are usually given daily over a period of several weeks. Each treatment is administered by a certified radiation therapist who monitors the patient's progress. In addition to the radiation therapist,physicians, nurses and support staff are always available to provide the best patient care.
High dose rate remote controlled afferloading radiation therapy, or brachytherapy, is a technique for delivering radiation to cancer cells in which radioactive implants are placed directly in or around tumorous growth. This technique exposes the tumor to very small amounts of radioactive material that in some cases is so tiny that the material will deliver it's energy until it loses it's radioactive properties over the treatment time.
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