Radiation therapy department
The Radiation Therapy Department of the N.N. Petrov National Medical Research Center of Oncology specializes in radiation therapy of cancer patients under inpatient treatment.
Together with surgical therapy and chemotherapy, radiation therapy is one of the main types of treatment of malignant tumors. The Radiation Therapy Department of the N.N. Petrov National Medical Research Center of Oncology is one of the oldest in Russia. Over the past decades, it has been actively engaged in developing and introducing into clinical practice the latest techniques of radiation therapy to treat cancer.
Types of radiation therapy:
- 3 D conformal radiotherapy
Conformal radiotherapy (CRT) is an advanced technique of external high-precision radiation therapy, which uses computers to create a 3-dimensional picture of the tumor and the anatomy of the critical organs. It is a very common type of radiotherapy.
The Department uses such advanced and highly accurate types of conformal radiotherapy as intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) and image-guided radiation therapy (IGRT).
- Radiosurgery and stereotaxic radiation therapy
These forms of radiation therapy can deliver high doses of radiation with sub-millimeter accuracy, thus significantly reducing the time of treatment sessions. These forms of radiation therapy are used to treat many types of cancer.
- Brachytherapy
High-dose brachytherapy and low-dose brachytherapy are types of internal radiation therapy where a sealed radiation source is placed inside or next to the area requiring treatment, precisely delivering radiation to a tumor, while minimizing the dose to surrounding healthy tissue.
The specialists of the Department are a leading authority on brachytherapy. The Radiation Therapy Department develops, implements and improves various forms of brachytherapy, which is used as an effective high-dose radiation treatment for cervical, prostate, breast, esophageal and lung cancers and malignant neoplasms of soft tissues.
Conformal radiotherapy (CRT) is an advanced technique of external high-precision radiation therapy, which uses computers to create a 3-dimensional picture of the tumor and the anatomy of the critical organs. It is a very common type of radiotherapy.
The Department uses such advanced and highly accurate types of conformal radiotherapy as intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) and image-guided radiation therapy (IGRT).
These forms of radiation therapy can deliver high doses of radiation with sub-millimeter accuracy, thus significantly reducing the time of treatment sessions. These forms of radiation therapy are used to treat many types of cancer.
High-dose brachytherapy and low-dose brachytherapy are types of internal radiation therapy where a sealed radiation source is placed inside or next to the area requiring treatment, precisely delivering radiation to a tumor, while minimizing the dose to surrounding healthy tissue.
The specialists of the Department are a leading authority on brachytherapy. The Radiation Therapy Department develops, implements and improves various forms of brachytherapy, which is used as an effective high-dose radiation treatment for cervical, prostate, breast, esophageal and lung cancers and malignant neoplasms of soft tissues.
Types of cancers
The Department’s physicians, medical physicists and dosimetrists have fully mastered all modern types of radiation therapy used to treat malignant neoplasms in various body sites.
- Prostate cancer
High-dose brachytherapy and stereotaxic radiation therapy are the common therapies used at the Department to treat prostate cancer. If necessary, they may be used in combination with remote conformal radiation therapy.
The Department has many types of radiotherapy machines, which gives it unique capabilities of providing almost any type of radiation therapy to patients with urologic cancers, especially with prostate cancer. Thus, the Department can use a patient-oriented approach in designing treatment plans and select the best possible treatment for each specific patient.
- Prostate cancer
- Treatment of prostate cancer at the N.N. Petrov National Medical Research Center of Oncology
- Standard clinical examination and planning before high-dose brachytherapy for treatment of prostate cancer
- Prostate cancer
- Gynecologic cancers
In this day and age, an efficient treatment of many gynecologic cancers is simply impossible without quality radiation therapy. To treat gynecologic cancers, the Department uses various types of external radiation therapy in combination with internal high-dose brachytherapy and/or stereotaxic radiation therapy.
- Brain tumors
In accordance with international guidelines, patients with malignant neoplasms of the brain and the meninges should undergo radiosurgery, stereotaxic radiation therapy and/or 3D conformal radiotherapy. The Center is the main state-owned medical institutions in the North-Western Region of Russia that specializes in stereotaxic radiation therapy and radiosurgery of brain tumors.
- Tumors of the head and neck
Radiation therapy to treat tumors of the head and neck may be used both as a stand-alone method of treatment or in combination with surgical therapy and chemotherapy. 3D Conformal radiotherapy, intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) and stereotaxic radiation therapy are most commonly used to treat tumors of the head and neck.
- Lung cancer
The Department uses all modern types of radiation therapy to treat lung cancer, such as 3D conformal radiotherapy and intensity modulated radiotherapy. The Radiation Therapy Department was the first to use intraluminal high-dose brachytherapy and stereotaxic radiation therapy to treat lung cancer in Russia.
- Breast cancer
Radiation therapy is an essential part of any treatment plant for breast cancer. To improve the efficacy and safety of treatment, the Department uses high-dose interstitial brachytherapy along with standard 3D external conformal radiotherapy. Additionally, the Department has developed unique techniques for delivering external radiation therapy by determining individual characteristics of lymphatic drainage pathways from the primary lesion.
- Malignancies of the gastrointestinal tract
Several decades worth of experience have shown us that the combination of external radiation therapy, intraluminal brachytherapy and chemotherapy ensures the most desired medicinal effect in patients with malignant neoplasms of the gastrointestinal tract. The Department uses a regimen of stereotaxic radiation treatment of patients with pancreatic cancer and solitary neoplasms of the liver. The specialists of the Department are engaged in clinical work and research to explore the capabilities of radiation therapy in the treatment of malignant neoplasms of the gastrointestinal tract, and above all esophageal cancer and colon cancer.
The specialists of the Department have extensive experience of radiation therapy treatment of many malignancies, such as malignant neoplasms in children, tumors of the human musculoskeletal system, lymphoproliferative disease, including Hodgkin lymphoma.
Radiation therapy equipment
The Department has many types of radiation therapy machines, which allows it to successfully use the most advanced cancer treatment techniques.
Pre-irradiation topometric preparation and radiation therapy dose planning are performed using modern complex machines.
Somatom Definition by Siemens is a helix CT simulator with a 20-slices configuration and a wide gantry aperture. It can generate a 4D model of a patient, taking into account movements within the patient to precisely synchronize the delivery of radiation with the patient’s breathing.
Discovery RT by General Electric is a helix CT- simulator with a 16-slices configuration and a wide gantry aperture. In addition to the features listed above, Discovery RT CT-simulator allows to perform various procedures, while taking real-time images. In particular, this feature allows to precisely and safely insert treatment needles for interstitial therapy.
Simulux evolution simulator by Elekta featuring a 3D tomography attachment enables creation of standard conformal radiation fields and preparation for combination radiation treatment, consisting of external radiation therapy and brachytherapy.
Radiation therapy dose planning is performed using 6 planning systems by leading global manufactures.
iPlan by Brainlab provides easy planning for radiosurgeries and stereotactic radiation therapy; Eclips by Varian is used for planning conformal 3D-4D (synchronized with breathing) image guided radiotherapy and planning of intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) and volumetric modulated radiation therapy (VMAT) or RapidArc treatment techniques. Planning for standard external radiation therapy, combined radiation therapy and high-dose brachytherapy is performed using Oncentra External beam, Oncentra Brachy, and Oncentra Prostate by Elekta.
Radiosurgery, stereotaxic radiation therapy and all types of modern external radiation therapy, including radiation therapy synchronized with patients’ own breathing, is performed using cutting-edge linear accelerators:
Novalis TX by Varian, Brainlab
True Beam by Varian
Clinac by Varian
Conventional techniques of radiation therapy, including 3D conformal radiotherapy, are performed using a SL75-5MT linear accelerator manufactured by D.V. Yefremov Research Institute for Electrophysical Apparatus.
All types of high-dose brachytherapy (interstitial brachytherapy, intracavitary brachytherapy and intraluminal brachytherapy) are performed using microSelectron by Elekta.