By NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The radiation oncology staff at the Chalmers Cancer Treatment Center, part of the Hutchinson Regional Healthcare System has seen a lot of changes in their approach over the last several years.
"The tools have changed greatly in the 30 years that I've been doing this," said clinical coordinator Joe Dyer. "The machines kind of look the same, but the technology that drives them is a lot different. The delivery that we do with the radiation is different, too. Back when I was in school, if the doctor would draw, oh a one centimeter margin around the tumor, that was considered accurate. Now, it's, you know, we work in millimeters or sub-millimeter, sometimes a zero margin, if you will."
The process starts with an appointment with a radiation oncologist, who decides how much radiation to give. A medical dosimetrist plans out the logistics to make that happen.
"My role in the team is to develop and generate a radiation treatment plan that will be delivered daily by the radiation therapist," said medical dosimetrist Trisha Bigelow.
Radiation therapists then have to manipulate the body and the machinery to be sure the radiation is hitting exactly where the unhealthy cells are, while preserving non-cancerous tissue.
"They are marked, we usually give them tiny tattoos," said radiation therapist Fred Cole. "We have laser lights at the machine that we use to line up those marks with and we roll the patient, tug them, push them, til we get those lined up. Then we can take an image out at the machine and further adjust that patient by adjusting the table, in, out, left, right, up, down, whatever we need to do to make that target match and then we can do a treatment."
Though there are many different types of cancer that can require radiation therapy, the type they see a lot is lung cancer along with cancer in the head and neck and in some of those cases it is lifestyle choices like tobacco use that have contributed to their diagnosis and thus their need for the therapy.