Radiation Oncology

The radiation therapy and radiation oncology programs at Carol G. Simon Cancer Center at Morristown Medical Center and Overlook Medical Center are nationally recognized for innovative services and exceptional care.

Radiation therapy uses radiation to destroy cancer cells and shrink tumors, including breast, prostate, lung, colon, cervical, head and neck, stomach, pancreas and uterine cancers. About half of all cancer patients receive some form of radiation therapy. Carol G. Simon Cancer Center provides our patients with the most technologically-advanced radiation treatments available and the latest innovations in radiation therapy, such as three dimensional (3-D) conformal external beam therapy and high-performance linear accelerators with multileaf collimation.

At Carol G. Simon Cancer Center, special 3-D treatment planning systems and a simulator are used to plan patients’ radiation treatment regimes. In our radiation oncology program, every patient’s treatment plan is reviewed by our multidisciplinary team of board-certified radiation oncologists, medical physicists, radiation therapists, oncology nurses who specialize in the needs of radiation patients, oncology-certified nutritionists, and licensed oncology social workers. Some cancer patients may also be candidates for RealART Real-Time Treatment Planning.
 

Radiation therapy and radiation oncology treatment programs at Carol G. Simon Cancer Center include:

• High-performance linear accelerator – A traditional radiation technique that targets cancer while preserving as much healthy tissue as possible.
  
  
• Image-guided radiation therapy (IGRT) – Morristown Medical was the first hospital in the United States to implement IGRT. To date, we have performed more than radiation 10,000 treatments. IGRT combines a 16-slice computed tomography scanner with a linear accelerator (CTLINAC), allowing the tumor to be located and visualized within seconds prior to every treatment, with sharper and more precise images than other radiation treatment technologies.
  
  
• Intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) – IMRT is the most advanced form of radiation treatment today. This treatment employs a highly non-uniform beam to create greater conformal dose distributions, maximizing the dose of radiation to the cancer without increasing side effects.
  
  
• Brachytherapy treatment – Brachytherapy applies a higher dose of radiation directly to the tumor while sparing healthy tissue and surrounding organs. At Morristown Medical, we have been treating patients with this technology for more than ten years and have completed more than 4,000 procedures.
  
  
  • High dose rate brachytherapy – This radiation treatment, in which a radioactive source is placed inside a catheter in the tumor for a short period of time, can be used for different types of cancer, including lung, esophageal, gynecological, prostate and recurrent cancers.