Stereotactic radiation
therapy successfully
targets certain
cancerous and noncancerous tumors with
pinpoint precision,
giving patients
a potentially shorter
and less toxic
treatment option
life,” says Mrs. Burns, whose trusting
relationship with Scott & White has
spanned many decades.
Fortunately, an excellent noninvasive option was available to
Mrs. Burns—an advanced type of
radiation treatment called stereotactic
radiotherapy, available at Scott &
White. Rather than enduring a major
surgery under general anesthesia,
which would be accompanied by
hospitalization, Mrs. Burns was able
to have stereotactic radiotherapy,
since she met the criteria for this
type of radiation therapy: her
tumor was small, well-defined, and
had not involved lymph nodes or
and Stereotactic Body Radiation
Therapy Services at the Radiation
Oncology Department of the Glenda
Tanner Vasicek Cancer Treatment
Center, Scott & White Memorial
Hospital in Temple. Mrs. Burns, now
87, says, “I felt fine during and after
my treatment and suffered no ill effects
whatsoever. I’m very glad I had this
option.” She continues to be followed
closely by her Scott & White team of
caregivers with imaging scans.
The Scott & White Healthcare
system has offered stereotactic
radiotherapy since 2010 for solid
tumors in the lungs, liver, and
pelvis. This technology is also used
distant structures. Her earlier fears
about undergoing surgery were
replaced by the comfort of a noninvasive solution, consisting of four,
one-hour treatment sessions.
“Stereotactic radiotherapy is a
highly precise form of radiation
therapy that achieved excellent control
of Mrs. Burns’s tumor with no acute
side effects, allowing her to get
back to her life quicker,” says her
radiation oncologist, Mehul Patel, MD,
director of Stereotactic Radiosurgery
to treat many benign, but serious,
neurological conditions, such as
arteriovenous malformations and
meningiomas. Stereotactic radiosurgery
is an option here to treat brain and
spine tumors as well. Stereotactic
radiation technology uses state-ofthe-art
imaging,
sophisticated
motion- tracking software, non-invasive
immobilization devices, and a unique
radiation-delivery method. Because
this type of radiation therapy is so
precise, much higher doses of radiation
MOMENT
wenty-five years ago, when
she was in her early 60s,
Temple resident Monafaye
(“Monty”) Burns underwent surgery
for thyroid cancer at Scott & White.
Closely followed by her doctors
since then, Mrs. Burns learned in
2012, when she was 85, that she
had early-stage lung cancer. Mrs.
Burns hesitated when she considered
treatment because she assumed surgery
would be required. “I didn’t want to go
through that again at this stage of my
T
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