• 3/5/2008
  • Moline, IL
  • staff
  • WQAD.com

A breakthrough in radiation treatment is giving doctors a new, more accurate way to attack tumors. It uses four-dimensional imaging to zero-in on cancer.

In this church sanctuary, Ken Sanders finds peace. A respite from his two year battle with throat cancer.

“It makes me feel wonderful, it’s the saving grace, I guess.”

Every day, Ken gets I-G-R-T — image guided radiation therapy.

The new four-dimensional imaging system is designed to target tumors, compensate for their motion, and miss healthy tissue around them, making it much more precise than traditional radiation.

“It was as if you were hit by a shot gun, and now it’s as if we have a laser-guided painting gun. We can paint the dose into a very specific target and miss the normal tissue” says Morris Geffen, MD.

And because tumors move… before every treatment, the 4-D scan updates the location of the tumor, then the radiation can be realigned to hit the target.

Dr. Geffen says “not only is the precision better but we’re now able to escalate the dose to such a degree that we can cure more cancers. One of the more famous radiation oncologists in the world paraphrased that this is the most significant advance in cancer management in the last 25 years.”

“Oh it absolutely saved my life.”

M’liss Mahn had an inoperable tumor behind her eye “and the tumor was sitting, growing into my skull.”

Over 70 days of I-G-R-T, doctors targeted her tumor with high doses of radiation, but were able to spare her eyes … her hearing … and fragile healthy tissue in her face.

Now, she’s cancer free, appreciating every day.

Doctor Geffen says improved accuracy with this new system means better results and fewer side effects for the patient.