Radiation Therapy Center

01 Medical examination

When you visit the Radiation Oncology for the first time, you will need a referral from another department of our hospital or another medical institution.

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Please come to our clinic a little before the reservation time and complete the reception. If you are visiting the Radiation Oncology for the first time, we ask that you fill out a medical questionnaire before your examination. Even if it is not your first visit, we ask that you fill in the form if there has been a gap since your last visit.

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When it's your turn, enter the examination room. There are 2 examination rooms in Block G on the 1st floor and Block C on the 2nd floor. Please check the display of the examination room number on the mobile terminal that you will be given at the time of reception. In the examination room, the radiation oncologist will explain the radiation treatment. If there is a need for radiotherapy and the consent of the patient is obtained, the radiotherapy schedule will be determined.

02 Treatment plan (CT simulation)

We perform CT imaging for treatment planning of radiotherapy. As radiotherapy images are taken using a fixed method, even those who recently had a diagnostic CT image will need to undergo a new CT image for treatment planning. At this time, we may inject an iodinated contrast medium or create a fixture. During the actual treatment, the patient is placed in the same position as during the CT scan, so the skin is marked with ink for alignment.

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After the CT scan, the nurse will explain the precautions for daily life.

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It takes about 2 days to 2 weeks from the CT scan to the start of radiotherapy. During this time, radiation oncologists and radiologists examine the range, direction, and method of radiation irradiation, verify the results, and then finalize the treatment plan.

03 Radiation therapy

During radiation therapy, please come to Block G on the 1st floor of the main building or the 1st floor of the South Building on the scheduled date and time. Depending on the disease and the patient's condition, we will consult with the relevant clinical department and decide whether the treatment will be inpatient or outpatient. When you are admitted to hospital, you will be admitted to the appropriate department. Side effects of radiation therapy rarely make it difficult to visit the hospital during radiation therapy. In the event of any side effects, we will treat you as an outpatient. In addition, the number of radiation treatments varies greatly depending on the disease and patient (1 to 40 times). Treatment is basically done once a day, and in many cases it takes about 10 minutes each time. It takes about 20-30 minutes for special treatments such as intensity-modulated radiotherapy and stereotactic radiotherapy, and about 2-2.5 hours for intracavity irradiation. Also, even with normal irradiation, the first radiation treatment takes about 30 minutes to 1 hour.

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If you have any problems during the treatment period, please ask the staff. Radiation therapists and nurses will be available as needed. Even if your symptoms do not change, you will be required to see a radiation oncologist once a week during the treatment period.

04 Observation

After the planned radiotherapy is completed, we basically ask you to follow up at the clinical department or medical institution that you were introduced to. You may be asked to continue follow-up at the Radiation Oncology.

The number of irradiations and the irradiation dose of radiotherapy are roughly determined according to the patient's disease, and the detailed content is decided in consideration of the treatment effect and side effects, etc., in consultation with the doctor in charge on the day of the first examination at the Radiation Oncology. . Basically, we do not change the number of times or the dose after the treatment has started, but it may be changed depending on the patient's health condition and individual circumstances. If you have any questions about irradiation dose or number of irradiations, please feel free to ask the radiotherapy staff.

Radiation is applied to the tumor, but not only cancer cells are irradiated. Even if there is no tumor on images such as CT, if the presence of a minute tumor is suspected, the area may be irradiated. Also, due to the nature of radiation, when a tumor is irradiated with radiation, the surrounding normal organs will inevitably be exposed to some radiation as well. By devising the irradiation method, we will avoid exposing normal organs to radiation as much as possible, but we will explain in advance if side effects due to radiation are expected in the future.

It is a treatment called stereotactic radiotherapy, in which the patient is firmly fixed with a treatment shell or the like, and then the radiation is focused on the tumor from various directions and irradiated. Because the concentration of radiation to the tumor is improved, it is possible to irradiate with a single high dose, resulting in high local control.

On the other hand, since the irradiation range is limited to the local area of the tumor, it is difficult to control invisible cancer cells that may be present in the surrounding area. There are many diseases for which conventional radiotherapy is more suitable than stereotactic radiotherapy. At our hospital, we mainly perform stereotactic radiotherapy for brain metastasis, lung cancer, liver cancer, and spinal metastasis.

For stereotactic radiation therapy, we use our TrueBeam treatment device, as well as gamma knife and cyber knife devices, and each device has its own strengths and weaknesses. If we think that treatment at our hospital is not suitable due to the size or shape of the tumor, we will actively refer the patient to a facility with other treatment devices.

Our hospital does not. However, we proactively refer cases that are considered suitable for gamma knife or cyber knife to facilities that have the appropriate equipment (Kobe Minimally Invasive Cancer Medical Center, etc.).

It depends on the disease and where the tumor is located. Among the treatments that irradiate radiation from the outside, there are those that use X-rays and those that use particle beams (heavy particle beams and proton beams), which are performed at our hospital. Particle beams differ from X-rays in how the radiation progresses and in the intensity of the radiation itself, so depending on the site of the disease or tumor, higher therapeutic effects and fewer side effects can be expected. However, there are many diseases for which X-rays are more suitable, and particle beams are not necessarily superior. In addition, there are a limited number of diseases for which particle beam therapy is covered by insurance. At our hospital, we actively introduce patients who are considered suitable for particle beam therapy to facilities capable of particle beam therapy.

We do not do this at our hospital. Radiation therapy at our hospital uses X-rays. However, we actively refer patients who are considered suitable for particle beam therapy to facilities capable of particle beam therapy (Kobe Proton Center, etc.).