News Release

New Treatment Planning Program Helps Cancer Patients Stay Close to Home

Lois Bock was not looking forward to another trip to Iowa City. The Fulton, Illinois woman had undergone surgery at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics to remove a tumor from her thymus gland and was about to receive radiation therapy treatment at Mercy Medical Center-Clinton.
   
Bock wondered if the weather would hold for the 90-mile trip to Iowa City, where Mark Dion, M.D. and Radiation Therapist/Dosimetrist Darla Olson would plan her radiation therapy treatments that she would be able to have close to home at the Mercy Radiation Oncology Center.

But thanks to the purchase of a sophisticated, new treatment planning system installed at Mercy, Bock did not need to make the trip. Instead, the planning was done at Mercy, just a few minutes from her home.
   
"It was such a relief," she said. "Running back and forth to Iowa City is not much fun when you're not feeling well."  

The new treatment planning system enabled Bock's medical team to do the prep work in Clinton, making it more convenient and faster than if she’d have to travel out of town. The purchase became possible through a grant of $30,000 from the Clinton County Community Development Association obtained by the Mercy Auxiliary.

In planning treatments and preparing their patients for radiation therapy, Mercy's health practitioners take several steps. Describing the therapeutic process and educating patients what to expect is the first step.

"They've got more time to talk to people (than practitioners at the
University of Iowa Hospitals)," Bock said. "They don't have as many people to contend with, so they're more personable here (in Clinton)."

The patients then receive a CT (computerized tomography) scan, whereby the scanner takes X-ray images of their bodies in 2.5-millimeter intervals. This allows Dion to pinpoint exactly where the tumor lies and to identify critical body structures, such as the heart or spinal cord, which he does not want to treat. Such accuracy is necessary to reduce side effects, because each person's anatomy is different.

The images are then loaded into the treatment-planning computer, which runs highly technical software. Using the system and viewing the tumor from several angles in 3-D form, Dion draws a line around the tumor as Olson assists by inputting the information and decisions into the computer. Olson fine-tunes and adjusts the plan to meet the parameters set by the doctor.  As she works, brightly colored lines representing radiation beams appear on her computer screen.  When finished, all the information is transferred to the accelerator located in the center.

"You want to give the entire tumor an even 100 percent dose," Olson said. "But you don't want to overdose the tissue around the tumor, and you don't want to treat critical structures."

Once Olson calculates the various doses, she checks her plan to see if she needs to adjust it. Then Dion and a physicist look it over. Previously, Dion and Olson had to do all these steps at the University of Iowa Hospitals and then send the treatment plan electronically to Mercy.

Finally, patients receive their radiation treatments, based on the precise location of their tumors and their individual anatomies. "Every patient's plan is different," Olson said.

Having the treatment planning system in Clinton can speed up the treatment process, according to Dion. "Otherwise, a delay of up to a week in beginning treatment was built into the process," he said.

Likewise, health practitioners can make immediate adjustments during the course of treatment, if needed.

But the main advantage of the system lies in being able to complete all aspects of radiation therapy locally. "There are lots of reasons why people ought to stay here for their treatment," Dion said. "They don't have to travel at a time when they are feeling ill, and family members (who provide transportation for patients) don't have to take as much time off work."

"They can maintain their normal daily routine," Olson added.

"I think people are silly to go anywhere else," Bock said. "The people at Mercy are great. They are well trained.”

Mercy Medical Center-Clinton has been providing radiation therapy since 1995.  The Mercy Radiation Oncology Center, which opened in 2005, is a joint service with the Department of Radiation Oncology at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics.