Medical X-Ray Center - Patient Education

The Medical X-ray Center provides specialized treatments for Avera Cancer Institute patients. Read below to learn about these treatment and diagnosis tools.

External Beam Radiation Therapy - A treatment of disease using penetrating beams of high-energy radiation waves which can be given over several weeks. It uses outside beams such as: X-Rays, gamma rays and electron beams.

Intensity Modulated Radiotherapy (IMRT) - IMRT allows for very precise external beam radiotherapy treatments. Rather than having a single large radiation beam pass through the body, IMRT divides the radiation into thousands of thin radiation beams. With precision accuracy, these beams enter the body from many angles and intersect the tumor. This results in a higher dose to the tumor and a lower dose to the surrounding healthy tissue.

CT based 3-Dimensional Treatment Planning - use of Computerized Tomography (CT) scans to help diagnose, evaluate, plan, and treat disease with radiation therapy.

High Dose Rate (HDR) Brachytherapy - Brachytherapy is often used in the treatment of gynecological, endobronchial and prostate cancers. A higher activity radioactive source is used to directly treat in or near the tumor for added precision. This form of treatment can be used alone or with external beam Radiation Therapy depending on the case.

Prostate Seed Implantation - Radioactive "seeds" are implanted into the prostate gland, which delivers radiation directly to the cancer. The prostate itself receives a direct dose keeping the surrounding tissues healthy.

X-Knife Stereotactic Radiosurgery - Medical X-Ray Center's Radiation Oncologists and Physicists work closely with local Neurosurgeons to provide the precise delivery of high dose radiotherapy to lesions in the brain. This gives millimeter accuracy targeting the lesion while avoiding unwanted dose to normal structures. Stereotactic Radiosurgery has been offered at Medical X-Ray Center since 2001.

PET/CT Treatment Planning Fusion - Access to state-of-the-art PET/CT scans assist physicians in the diagnosis, stage evaluation, and treatment of cancer. Instead of two separate scans, we are now able to receive the critical diagnostic information needed to give patients the best possible care with one rapid PET/CT exam.

Total Body Irradiation (TBI) - irradiation treatment to the entire body as part of a special, complex treatment for bone marrow or stem cell transplant.

Mammosite Breast Brachytherapy - MammoSite is a form of partial breast irradiation. By delivering radiation inside of the lumpectomy cavity, after a tumor is removed, the radiation is delivered directly to the area of interest allowing the surrounding tissue to stay healthy. Radiation treatments can be delivered over a period of only one week rather than the several weeks needed with external beam radiation.

Intracoronary Brachy therapy - Endovascular brachytherapy is an extension of the use of radiotherapy for benign disease. In intracoronary brachytherapy, radioactive isotopes are placed within the coronary artery and deposit a localized dose of radiotherapy to the vessel wall.

Physics Consulting Services - This service is vailable upon request.