Center for Advanced Radiation Medicine

Northwestern Lake Forest Hospital’s Center for Advanced Radiation Medicine has improved the quality of cancer care in Lake County by connecting advanced technology with the expertise of some of the most experienced oncologists in the country.

Led by two Harvard-trained physicians, Joseph Imperato, MD, FACR and Marc Posner, MD, Northwestern Lake Forest Hospital’s Center for Advanced Radiation Medicine has exceptional resources to treat each patient needing radiation therapy. We are accredited by the Commission on Cancer for our progressive approach to treating cancer patients.

Radiation therapy has progressed significantly in recent years, due to the discovery of techniques that allow physicians to identify the precise locations of cancer cells and target radiation for maximum impact. Northwestern Lake Forest Hospital takes full advantage of these techniques.

For example, treatment planning refers to systems that create computer images — sometimes in real-time — allowing physicians to see precisely where the tumor is, pinpoint its location and determine correct radiation doses.

In addition, we use targeted drug therapy to treat only the cancer cells and minimize damage to normal, healthy cells. Conventional cancer techniques cannot distinguish between cancerous and healthy cells; consequently, healthy cells are commonly damaged in the process of treating the cancer cells, which results in side effects.

However, new technology at Northwestern Lake Forest Hospital allows us to sculpt radiation doses to the size, shape and location of the tumor. This can minimize damage to healthy cells, reduce side effects, improve outcomes — and provide you the best possible cancer treatment.

Northwestern Lake Forest Hospital offers some of the newest technology available in the fight against cancer, including:

• Image Guided Radiation Therapy (IGRT) Clarity Breast & Prostate System. This non-invasive, state-of-the-art system allows our team to precisely locate the cancer with 3D ultrasound and CT technology; adjust radiation treatment to its precise dimensions; and treat only those targeted cancer cells, rather than healthy cells. This minimizes radiation to your body, and gives you the safest, most accurate treatment available. Learn more about Clarity Breast & Prostate Systems.
  
  
• Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT). IMRT delivers radiation therapy by sculpting the dose to conform to the unique shape of the tumor. This highly precise approach maximizes the impact of therapy while minimizing the effects radiation can have on your healthy tissues and organs.
  
  
• PET/CT. This modern imaging technology allows Northwestern Lake Forest Hospital specialists to identify and locate cancer with unprecedented accuracy. Together with our precise radiation therapy treatments, we can visualize the exact impact of each session. Learn more about PET/CT.
  
  
• Real-time Position Management (RPM). The RPM system gives us clear images of the target for radiation therapy — and even allows us to visualize the tumor as it moves while a patient is breathing. With this technology, radiation doses are only given when the tumor can be accessed best, eliminating unnecessary radiation to the body.
  
  
• Accelerated Breast Radiation Therapy. For patients facing radiation therapy after surgery for breast cancer, a standard course of treatment can involve daily radiation sessions over a period of weeks. Northwestern Lake Forest Hospital uses new radiation techniques that can significantly shorten the frequency and duration of radiation, which can lessen the inconvenience and stress of traditional treatment courses.
  
  
• Iodine (I-131) Therapy. Your thyroid gland absorbs nearly all of the iodine in your blood. With this treatment, radioactive iodine I-131 is taken into the body’s thyroid gland and can destroy the thyroid gland and other thyroid cells — including cancer cells — without affecting the rest of your body. It can be used to destroy any thyroid tissue not removed by surgery or to treat thyroid cancer that has spread to other parts of the body.
  
  
• Radioimmunotherapy (RIT). This new, targeted treatment delivers radiation therapy through a technique similar to chemotherapy. In RIT, a tumor-killing dose of a radioactive substance is linked to an antibody that then binds directly to the cancerous cells of the tumor. The radiation then kills only the targeted and nearby cancer cells, while normal tissue gets only a minimal dose. RIT may reduce the frequency and duration of cancer treatments.
  
  
• Radiofrequency Ablation. This treatment can be particularly successful against liver cancer, since many liver tumors cannot be removed through traditional surgery. With radiofrequency ablation, radio waves are administered directly to the tumor and destroy cancer cells through heat. This treatment is performed onsite at Northwestern Lake Forest Hospital's Cardiac Catheterization Lab. Learn more about ablation in the Cardiac Catheterization Lab.

 

Next: learn about Cancer Support Services at Northwestern Lake Forest Hospital >