Radiation Therapy
Queen’s Medical Center’s Radiation Oncology offers an extensive range of advanced – technological approaches, to ensure unsurpassed clinical care in the delivery of radiation to our cancer patients. Given in high doses, radiation kills or slows the growth of cancer cells. Radiation Therapy can be external – when a machine outside your body aims radiation at cancer cells, or internal – when radiation is put inside your body, in or near the cancer cells. Here at Queens – we offer both types of radiation treatments.
We have 2 conventional linear accelerators that deliver external beam radiation therapy. These machines are large but they do not touch you. It rotates around you focusing radiation to your body from many different directions.
Another external beam radiation therapy machine that Queens has is the TomoTherapy. It is the only one of its kind in the state of Hawaii. It combines an advanced form of Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT), the accuracy of CT scanning technology and advanced tools for planning and delivering radiation therapy in one machine. An on board CT scanner helps our care team determine if the tumor has shifted or changed shape since the previous treatment. This information allows the care team with your radiation oncologist to better plan your treatment to avoid damage to muscle tissue, the spinal cord, the lungs and other critical organs. Unlike traditional radiation therapy machines that project radiation from only a few directions, the TomoTherapy allows our Radiation Therapy Team to deliver precise powerful radiation doses from 360-degrees.
Internal Radiation Therapy is also offered here at Queen’s. One form of internal radiation therapy is called Brachytherapy. In Brachytherapy, the radiation source is a solid in the form of seeds, ribbons, or capsules, which are placed in your body, in or near the cancer cells. This allows radiation treatment with a high dose to a smaller part of your body.
You may also get internal radiation along with other types of treatment, including external beam radiation, chemotherapy, and or surgery.
We have 2 conventional linear accelerators that deliver external beam radiation therapy. These machines are large but they do not touch you. It rotates around you focusing radiation to your body from many different directions.
Another external beam radiation therapy machine that Queens has is the TomoTherapy. It is the only one of its kind in the state of Hawaii. It combines an advanced form of Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT), the accuracy of CT scanning technology and advanced tools for planning and delivering radiation therapy in one machine. An on board CT scanner helps our care team determine if the tumor has shifted or changed shape since the previous treatment. This information allows the care team with your radiation oncologist to better plan your treatment to avoid damage to muscle tissue, the spinal cord, the lungs and other critical organs. Unlike traditional radiation therapy machines that project radiation from only a few directions, the TomoTherapy allows our Radiation Therapy Team to deliver precise powerful radiation doses from 360-degrees.
Internal Radiation Therapy is also offered here at Queen’s. One form of internal radiation therapy is called Brachytherapy. In Brachytherapy, the radiation source is a solid in the form of seeds, ribbons, or capsules, which are placed in your body, in or near the cancer cells. This allows radiation treatment with a high dose to a smaller part of your body.
You may also get internal radiation along with other types of treatment, including external beam radiation, chemotherapy, and or surgery.