In January the Delaware Valley Urology Cancer Treatment Center implemented Rapid-Arc, a radiation alternative for men with prostate cancer.
February 27th, 2009 Posted in radiation therapyIn January the Delaware Valley Urology Cancer Treatment Center implemented Rapid-Arc, a radiation alternative for men with prostate cancer.
Rapid-Arc was approved by the Federal Drug Administration in January 2008 and is used at only a handful of clinics and hospitals around the United States. If conventional radiation takes about 15 minutes, with this new technology, patients come in for a short treatment five days a week for 40 days to complete the radiation therapy. It’s only one to two minutes and patients don’t move around a lot.
If the conventional radiation treatment is not as precise in its application and can sometimes have negative effects on the bladder and rectum, the Rapid-Arc puts a cloud of radiation right on the target.