Radiation Oncology

CentraCare Radiation Oncology at Douglas County Hospital opened in October, 1998. This is a collaborative relationship between CentraCare Health System-Melrose and the Douglas County Hospital.

Radiation therapy, sometimes called radiotherapy or irradiation, is the use of various forms of radiation to safely and effectively treat cancer and other diseases. Modern technology allows radiation oncologists to treat tumors more powerfully and precisely while sparing much of the healthy tissue that surrounds the tumor.

Radiation:

• Is a special kind of energy carried by waves or particles.
• Works by damaging the DNA within cancer cells and destroying
  the ability of the cancer cells to reproduce.
• Can be delivered internally or externally.
• Can come from special machines or from radioactive substances.

Depending on the type of cancer and its stage of development, radiation therapy can be used to:

•Cure cancer.
• Keep the cancer from spreading.
• Slow the cancer's growth.
• Kill cancer cells that may have spread to other parts of the
  body from the original tumor.
• Relieve symptoms caused by the cancer.

Sometimes radiation therapy is the only treatment a patient needs, and other times it is only one part of a patient's treatment. For example, prostate and early stage larynx cancers are often treated with radiation alone. But a woman with breast cancer may be treated with surgery, radiation therapy and chemotherapy.

It is important for you to discuss the goal of your treatment with your radiation oncologist.

Radiation Oncology Team

The process of designing and delivering a course of radiation therapy is a complicated process that depends on the expertise of several people pulling together, including:

• Radiation oncologist who plans and prescribes your treatments.
• Medical physicist who works with the radiation oncologist to
  ensure the accuracy of your treatment delivery.
• Dosimetrist who calculates the amount of radiation to be given
  and works with complex computers to custom design your
  treatment plan.
• Radiation therapist who actually administers the radiation
  treatments and that you will see every day.
• Registered nurse, who specializes in oncology care, is available
  to help you and your family during the course of treatment.

Dr. Medini, MD, a radiation oncologist is specially trained in utilizing radiation therapy to treat a variety of cancers.  The radiation oncologist plans and prescribes the type and amount of radiation for cancer treatments.  Radiation therapy may also be prescribed to treat symptoms which may be caused by growing tumors or cancers.