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Radiation Oncology

Introduction

 

Challenge to raise quality of life of cancer patients

Radiation therapy is a method of treating cancer using high-energy radiation, and is one of the three major cancer treatment methods along with surgery and chemotherapy. In department of Radiation Oncology, radiation is focused on damaging tumor cells and minimize effects to surrounding normal tissues. We are treating patients in a number of sophisticated ways. Gachon University Gil Medical Center introduced Novalis Tx linear accelerator for the first time in Asia to enhance clinical capabilities and is currently operating 3 state-of-the-art linear accelerators.

Radiation therapy is largely divided into external irradiation and brachytherapy. Externally irradiated radiation is generated by radiation from a machine outside the body and irradiated to the body. There are treatment techniques such as electron beam therapy, three-dimensional stereoscopic radiation therapy, intensity-controlled radiation therapy, image-guided radiation therapy, and stereotactic radiosurgery. Proximity irradiation radiotherapy is a method of irradiating high doses of radiation to local areas by placing radioactive isotopes close to the tumor itself, and is mainly used for the treatment of gynecological tumors.

Radiation therapy can be divided into radical treatment and conventional treatment depending on its purpose. Radical radiation therapy includes treatment for early stage lung cancer, head and neck cancer, prostate cancer without chemotherapy agent. The other treatment is the radiacal method combined with surgery or chemotherapy agent for breast cancer, locally advanced lung cancer, brain cancer or rectal cancer. Conventional radiotherapy is aimed at maintaining the quality of life through fracture prevention, pain control, and managing dyspnea even when radical treatment is difficult. Although this radiotherapy is mainly targeted for malignant tumors (cancer), it is also applied to the treatment of some benign tumors, such as keloids or thyroid ophthalmopathy.

External radiation therapy takes about 10 to 20 minutes per treatment, and it is a comfortable treatment that does not cause any pain or physical discomfort during treatment.

Modern cancer treatment is not a single treatment under each department, but it requires multidisciplinary cooperation, such as surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, radiology, nuclear medicine, and diagnostic medicine. Gachon University Gil Medical Center offers customized treatments that are optimized for patients through the best multi-disciplinary care system together with IBM Watson Onology.


Area

Breast Cancer click to collapse contents

Breast cancer is the second most common cancer among women in Korea. In 2013, breast cancer accounts for 15.4% of all female cancers. Radiation therapy to the breast after breast preservation surgery is an essential treatment for reducing the local recurrence rate. Even after some mastectomy, radiation therapy may be done if the tumor is large or there is large lymph node metastasis.

Breast radiotherapy is scheduled 5 times a week, and treatment takes about 6 weeks. Each treatment session takes about 10 minutes. There are no hot or painful feeling during treatment. However, as treatment progresses, radiation dermatitis may occur at the treatment site in some patients, but most symptoms are not severe and they will disappear in 2 weeks.

Department of Radiation Oncology leads research activities regarding special techniques such as end-inhalation radiation therapy, abdominal gastric radiation therapy or intensity-controlled radiation therapy to minimize long-term side effects after treatment, and continue to publish in international journals. We are making efforts to maximize the quality of life of patients by applying them to actual patient cases.

Theoretically, in cancer cases of the liver / biliary tract / pancreas, radiotherapy is not a standard treatment. However, in most cases, treatment is usually started in advanced stages, and radiotherapy is performed for various purposes, such as post-operative adjuvant therapy or symptom improvement considering general condition and stage.

Liver cancer refers to cancer that occurs in liver cells, and treatment methods include hepatectomy, liver transplantation, radiofrequency ablation or hepatic arterial chemoembolization. Recently, with the innovative development of radiotherapy technology, radiotherapy for liver cancer is actively being progressed. Radiation therapy using stereotactic excision radiotherapy (SABR) is becoming an effective alternative if previous treatment was ineffective or the lesion occurred within limited boundary.

In the case of pancreatic cancer and biliary tract cancer (biliary duct cancer), surgery is performed depending on its stage. Radiation therapy is used as adjuvant therapy postoperatively or to improve symptoms in biliary obstruction and pain.

Esophageal cancer and stomach cancer click to expand contents

Heterogeneous skin cancer click to expand contents

Rectal and colon cancer click to expand contents

Gynecological cancer click to expand contents

Sarcoma click to expand contents

Metastatic and other cancers click to expand contents

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