Sheba Medical Center Novel Radiotherapy Treatment in Israel
Radiation is a standard treatment for many forms of cancer. However, traditionally radiotherapy has had several limitations. Radiation kills normal, healthy cells as well as cancer cells. Therefore, radiation therapy must sometimes be given in lower than optimal doses or even discontinued to avoid side effects.
What is Radiotherapy?
Radiotherapy is the use of radiation to treat cancer, stopping the spread or even curing it completely. While radiotherapy has been used for many years, new advances at Sheba make the treatment much more effective.
How is Radiotherapy Used?
Typically radiotherapy is applied by an external beam or by brachytherapy. External beam radiotherapy uses an accelerator outside the patient’s body to target cancer cells. Sheba uses the latest TRUEBEAM accelerator along with other high tech equipment to precisely target cancer and minimize damage to healthy cells.
Brachytherapy is the implantation of small radioactive grains or beads near the cancer. This way, the radiation source is internal and harm to adjacent tissue is reduced. While brachytherapy can be used to treat several types of cancer, it is most often used for prostate cancer.
Sheba is one of the few facilities in the world that uses the high dose radiation (HDR) SMARTSEED system for maximum accuracy and effectiveness.
What Is The Success Rate of Radiotherapy?
The symptoms vary according to the specific disorder, but may include: Curative rates vary by cancer type, progression, and patient condition. However, data from five year followups show that Sheba’s stereotactic body radiation therapy with spacer for prostate cancer – a treatment that uses small markers to focus external radiation – has an amazing 98% success rate.
Contact Sheba Medical Center right away through this official website for advanced treatment
of prostate – or any type – of cancer.
What Other Radiotherapy Advances are Available At Sheba?
Frameless Radiosurgery for Brain Cancers – In the past, patients had their head secured by a metal frame when receiving radiotherapy for brain tumors. This was done to reduce movement and avoid targeting normal brain tissue. Unfortunately, the frame was often painful.
Now, Sheba uses a thermoplastic mask attached to the bed in concert with our NOVALIS treatment system. This allows highly accurate targeting for precise eradication of the tumor.
SBRT Treatment using 4D CT – Stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) can be useful for the treatment of lung, stomach, liver, spine, and other cancers. It is an incredibly accurate form of high-dose radiation.
SBRT with 4D CT
SBRT with 4D CT tracks patient movement due to breathing, thus ensuring ultra-precise application of radiation and killing cancer cells while sparing healthy tissue. This makes it possible to use high-dose radiation with reduced side effects. Therefore, treatment times are often shortened from the standard six to seven weeks to only three to 10 sessions.
Sheba’s physicians have are experienced with this cutting edge technique. They have achieved success in the treatment of primary and secondary lung tumors, spinal cancers, and liver and stomach metastases. SBRT with 4D CT can sometimes reduce or even eliminate the need for surgery.
MRI-TRUS Guided Brachytherapy – Sheba’s Computer Imaging Lab has developed a novel system for navigating within the body to precisely place the radioactive beads used in brachytherapy. MRI-TRUS guided brachytherapy allows our radiation oncologists to target the tumor location precisely for maximum effectiveness and reduced harm to normal tissue.
CPAP for SBRT – A New Application
To avoid irradiating healthy tissue, physicians at Sheba Medical Center in Israel have adapted the use of continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) in the treatment of SBRT. While the use of CPAP for SBRT is an ongoing study, the results so far are extremely positive.
By augmenting lung volume with CPAP to a relative increase of 32%, Sheba doctors have been able to achieve a 22% relative reduction in average lung radiation dose. Additionally, there was also a relative reduction of 29% in average radiation dose to the heart.
Who is the Head of the Department of Radiation Oncology at Sheba?
Prof. Zvi Symon
Prof. Zvi Symon is the director of the Department of Radiation Oncology at Sheba.
He has completed fellowships in both Internal Medicine and Radiation Oncology and has extensive expertise in radiation oncology, radiosurgery, and stereotactic radiation therapy. Prof. Symon is a member of the Sackler Faculty of Medicine at Tel Aviv University and is intimately familiar with multiple aspects of many forms of cancer. He has received training at both Hadassah Hospital and Sheba Medical Center.
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