Treatment Options

If you are diagnosed with cancer, the Cancer Institute’s experienced team of professionals works with you and your loved ones to review treatment options and develop a course of action that combines the most effective treatment with your personal preferences.

Surgery

Surgery is the most common treatment to remove cancerous tumors, surrounding tissue and lymph nodes. St. John’s Cancer Institute works with general surgeons, as well as specialists in all areas. Surgery is often used in combination with chemotherapy and/or radiation therapy.

St. John’s offers “robotic-assisted” surgery for removal of diseased prostates. This minimally invasive surgery leads to better patient outcomes, less pain and fewer complications.

Whether your surgery is performed on an outpatient basis or requires an inpatient hospital stay, St. John’s is committed to making your experience as comfortable as possible.

Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy uses powerful drugs to kill cancer cells wherever they may be — in body organs, the blood or lymph glands. It may be used alone or in combination with surgery and/or radiation therapy.

Under the direction of a hematologist/oncologist, chemotherapy is delivered through an IV, in pill form or through injections. Patients may be admitted to the hospital for chemotherapy, but in most cases, it is given on an outpatient basis in St. John's Day Hospital located on the 2nd Floor of the main hospital.

Radiation Therapy

Radiation therapy uses precisely targeted high-energy X-rays to destroy cancer cells. It is a very effective treatment for many cancers and is most commonly used to treat cancers of the lung, breast, brain, prostate and uterus. Radiation therapy may be the only form of treatment required or it may be combined with surgery and/or chemotherapy.

Radiation therapy is performed under the direction of a radiation oncologist. It is most often delivered externally as a patient lies on a table while special equipment is used to deliver X-rays to a specific body part. Treatments lasts 10-20 minutes and are typically performed on an outpatient basis five days a week for two to eight weeks.

St. John’s offers many advanced forms of radiation therapy:

Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT)
IMRT delivers radiation in a very precise way to deliver radiation directly to the cancerous area while avoiding nearby organs. IMRT is used to treat many types of cancers, but most often cancers of the prostate, central nervous system, head and neck area, and some breast cancers.

Rapid Arc
Cancer in the head, neck and prostate can be difficult to treat using conventional approaches, such as IMRT, because of limitations in machine design. The Rapid Arc system is an advancement of IMRT technology. It can be precisely targeted to areas of the body that were difficult to treat with IMRT.

A television news story about Varians RapidArc that appeared on WICD in Champaign, Illinois. This story also ran on WICS (ABC-Springfield) and WCCU (FOX News/Champaign). View it here

Image Guided Radiotherapy (IGRT)
Currently used for prostate cancer, IGRT uses an ultrasound probe placed on top of the abdomen to find the precise location of the prostate just before the radiation is delivered. Painless and requiring only an additional two - three minutes, IGRT is extremely accurate.

Brachytherapy
Low dose rate brachytherapy is a form of radiation therapy delivered internally through small radioactive “seeds” permanently implanted into the affected body part. The seed implants are proving effective in treating prostate and lung cancer. 

High dose rate brachytherapy is also delivered internally; however the radioactive source is inserted for several minutes and then removed. High dose rate brachytherapy is most commonly used to treat cancers of the cervix and early stage breast cancer. 

Interventional Radiology

Specialists called interventional radiologists use minimally invasive procedures to destroy certain types of tumors and to help control pain. One procedure, called radiofrequency ablation, delivers high-intensity heat directly to a tumor. A procedure called chemoembolization delivers chemotherapy drugs directly to a tumor.

Patients with inoperable liver tumors or other types of cancer that have spread to the liver are excellent candidates for this type of procedure. Another procedure delivers high doses of chemotherapy to head and neck tumors so organs such as the voice box and tongue don’t need to be removed.