WHAT TO EXPECT AS A PATIENT AT
THE WELCH CANCER CENTER 

You may wonder what each day holds for you as a radiation therapy patient at the Welch Cancer Center. What procedures are done? What tests are usually run? What routine activities will be a part of everyday life while you are being treated with radiation therapy?

Radiation treatment involves four basic steps: initial consultation and diagnosis, simulation for tumor and critical structure localization, treatment planning, and treatment delivery.  

 As part of the initial consultation, the patient first meets with Pam Hall RN, Radiation Oncology Nurse. During this portion of the consult Pam takes vital signs and completes a comprehensive nursing assessment.  Dr. John P. Stamato, Radiation Oncologist, will then take a complete medical history and perform a physical exam. This will include a review of your x-rays, CT scans, MRIs, and any other diagnostic studies which may have been performed. Review of laboratory and pathological information is also performed. Treatment goals, as well as the expected side effects of treatment will be discussed. This step usually takes 90 minutes.

During simulation, the patient will undergo a CT scan on the dedicated, in house CT Scanner. The CT captures images of the patient's anatomy which are used for tumor and critical structure location. Marks are placed on the patient that will be used to center the radiation beams to the exact treatment location. Immobilization devices and custom molds are fabricated prior to the CT. This process usually takes 30 to 45 minutes.

During the treatment planning step, the CT images are transported to the CMS Xio^® Treatment Planning Computer. Dr. Stamato, the Radiation Physicist, and the Dosimetrists generate three dimensional diagnostic images using the data generated from the CT images. The Treatment Planning Computer contains sophisticated computer algorithms which allow the physician to set the required dose distribution to the tumor, while defining dose constraints to nearby critical structures. The time necessary for this phase takes anywhere from 1 day to 2 weeks, depending on the nature and complexity of the case and whether IMRT is employed in the treatment plan.

When the plan is complete, the patient then begins daily radiation treatments. This is the treatment delivery stage. Radiation Therapy is usually given once a day, five days a week for six to eight weeks. A typical radiation treatment session lasts about 15 minutes, with the radiation actually on for 1 to 3 minutes. The radiation beams cannot be seen, heard, or felt, and it does not hurt to have radiation treatments. A person who receives external radiation therapy treatment is not radioactive and they may continue with social activities and be around other people.

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