Treatments and Technology

Our Technology

VARIAN TRUEBEAM^® RADIOTHERAPY SYSTEM

The Florida Oncology Tavares Radiation Treatment Center is the only independent facility in the area to offer TrueBeam^® technology. This is the latest advance in radiation therapy technology from Varian Medical Systems, the world’s leading producer of radiation therapy equipment. A clean-sheet design incorporating both the latest in digital technology and Varian’s decades of experience with previous generation linear accelerators, the TrueBeam^® allows for radiation treatments to be faster, more accurate, and more comfortable than any previous radiation therapy platform.

Our TrueBeam^® radiotherapy system is designed to treat cancer wherever it’s found in the body. This high-tech solution offers flexible treatment options, advanced imaging, high-precision dosage control, streamlined treatments, and an unrivaled level of safety and reliability for our patients.

Learn More about TrueBeam^®.

Our treatments

Utilizing the latest radiotherapy technology allows the physicians at Florida Oncology Tavares to offer many advanced forms of radiation therapy. Our physicians will provide detailed information on which techniques are appropriate for individual patient cases.

Accelerated Partial Breast Irradiation (APBI/SAVI^®/MammoSite and Contura)

Accelerated Partial Breast Irradiation (APBI) is a term that encompasses a variety of treatment techniques that treat only the lumpectomy bed plus a 1-2 cm margin, rather than the whole breast. The small volume of irradiation means a higher dose can be delivered over a shorter period of time. Strut-adjusted volume implant (SAVI^®) brachytherapy uses an implanted catheter device to deliver internal radiation to early-stage breast cancer patients. This treatment is typically administered after a lumpectomy. This type of brachytherapy is different from external beam radiation, which applies radiation from outside the body. SAVI^® has several advantages, including reducing the length of therapy from up to seven weeks for traditional whole-breast irradiation to just one week or less. This short-course approach is known as accelerated partial breast irradiation (ABPI). ABPI has been shown to improve cosmetic outcomes. People undergoing ABPI also typically report fewer side effects than those who receive whole-breast irradiation. MammoSite and Contura, also called balloon catheter radiation, are two other types of APBI that use a liquid-filled balloon system to deliver internal radiation therapy to breast cancer patients after surgery to remove their cancer. After a patient has had a lumpectomy to remove the cancer, a small balloon on the end of a catheter is inserted into the empty tumor pocket. The balloon is then filled with liquid and radioactive seeds, which are placed into the balloon twice a day for five days and then removed each time. The catheter and balloon are removed at the end of treatment.

Electron Beam Radiation Therapy

Electron beam therapy is a radiation therapy typically used to treat shallow tumors. This treatment is often used on certain types of skin cancers. Electron beam therapy is different than other types of radiation that treat tumors deeper in the body using photons or protons.

High Dose Rate (HDR) Brachytherapy for Breast, Lung, Gynecologic, and Skin Malignancies

HDR brachytherapy utilizes a radiation source that is placed directly into or next to a tumor in order to deliver a high dose of localized radiation. This technique can be an effective treatment option for certain breast, lung, gynecologic, and skin cancers.

Image Guided Radiation Therapy (IGRT)

IGRT incorporates advanced imaging techniques during radiation treatment sessions, allowing the physician to view the targeted area and deliver precise doses of radiation. Utilizing the detailed images allows radiation oncologists to deliver higher doses of radiation to a narrowly focused treatment area, which may increase the probability of tumor control and shorter treatment schedules.

Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT)

IMRT uses carefully customized radiation beams, which are precisely shaped and calibrated to the shape of the cancer/tumor that is being targeted. In addition to accurate targeting, the intensity of each beam can be varied to efficiently treat the affected area while minimizing damage to surrounding tissue. It can be used to treat any area of the body and is often used to treat benign tumors.

RapidArc^® (VMAT)

RapidArc^® Volumetric Arc Therapy (VMAT) uses a specific technology and technique to deliver a faster treatment time and lower radiation dose to patients. During a RapidArc^® (VMAT) treatment the linear accelerator rotates around the patient and the radiation beams sweep in continuous uninterrupted arcs, tightly focused on the cancer. Three-dimensional imaging technology aids in the precision of the radiation, giving our doctors the ability to see the tumor at the time of treatment. This new technology allows our radiation oncologist more control to deliver a carefully targeted dose, so that only the tumor receives a high dose of radiation, not the surrounding healthy organs. This technique reduces conventional treatment time from the between 10-20 minutes a session to just 1-2 minutes. By reducing the length of your daily treatments, you will be able to spend more time doing the things you want.

Stereotactic body radiation therapy/Stereotactic ablative body radiation (SBRT/SABR)

SABR (Stereotactic Ablative Body Radiation, also known as Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy – SBRT) is a treatment technique that uses precisely targeted, very high dose x-ray beams to destroy small cancers. First developed in the early 2000s as an alternative to surgery for treatment of small lung cancers, it has since been proven to be highly eﬀective and safe in the treatment of a wide variety of cancer types throughout the body, including prostate cancer.

Stereotactic Radiosurgery (SRS)

Stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) uses many precisely focused radiation beams to treat tumors and other problems in wide range of areas within a patient’s body. SRS uses 3D imaging to target high doses of radiation to the affected area with minimal impact on the surrounding healthy tissue.

Three-Dimensional Conformal Radiation Therapy (3D-CRT)

3D-CRT is a procedure that begins by creating a computer-generated 3-D picture of a patient’s tumor. This imaging allows our doctors to give the highest possible dose of radiation to the tumor, while sparing the normal surrounding tissue as much as possible. Small beams of radiation are used to target the tumor with a high dose of radiation.