Radiation Therapy
WHAT TO EXPECT | INSURANCE | PARKING
Fairview’s Radiation Therapy Center expansion is complete!
Welcome to the Radiation Therapy Center at Fairview University Medical Center-Mesabi. You have been referred to our center by your doctor for an appointment to discuss radiation therapy treatment for your disease.
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WHAT TO EXPECT
Your first appointment is a consultation visit with the Radiation Oncologist, a physician who has had special training in using radiation to treat diseases. At this visit the doctor will review your records, examine you and discuss treatment options including risks and benefits of therapy. A Radiation Therapy Nurse will review the radiation treatment process and begin to teach you how to care for yourself while you are receiving treatment. Please allow 1 1/2 to 2 hours for the consultation visit.
When radiation therapy has been selected as an appropriate course of treatment, the next step is called simulation. Simulation is the process by which the radiation treatment fields are defined, filmed and marked out on your skin. This will be done on a CT scanner. The simulation process may take place on the same day as your consultation or it may be scheduled for another day. This process may take from a half hour to approximately two hours.
Radiation therapy is usually given daily Monday through Friday for six to eight weeks. The addition of a second linear accelerator allows for uninterrupted treatment schedules. Each session is approximately 15 minutes in duration. The number of treatments is determined during the treatment planning process by the Radiation Oncologist.
Dynamic Targeting® IGRT
Fairview Range has the most advanced linear accelerator in the region. It targets tumors with the highest degree of accuracy and minimizes the amount of damage to surrounding healthy cells.
Tumors can move during treatment (usually due to patient respiration) and between treatments
(usually due to day-to-day variations in patient setup). Dynamic Targeting® IGRT offers clinicians advanced imaging techniques to verify patient position and tumor position at the time of treatment. Knowing exactly where the tumor is allows clinicians to reduce the volume of tissue irradiated, targeting only the tumor and sparing the surrounding normal tissue. Irradiating less normal tissue reduces the toxicity of radiotherapy, improving the patient’s quality of life, and may make it possible to deliver higher radiation doses to the tumor and thereby increases the likelihood of local tumor control and cure.
HOW IT WORKS
When patients are positioned on a treatment couch, an X-ray system mounted on a robotic
arm is rotated around the body, to gather images that pinpoint a tumor’s exact location. These
images are then compared with existing images (MRI, CT or other kinds of scans) in order to
determine if the tumor has moved since the last treatment. Tumors can end up in different positions from one treatment session to another. In addition, tumors can move several centimeters due to a patient’s normal respiratory cycle.
PATIENT BENEFITS
Through more precise targeting of the beam, dosage levels can be increased and target volumes (the three-dimensional areas to receive treatment) can be reduced—so tumors get a higher dose of radiation and healthy surrounding tissues get very little. Higher doses have been shown to enhance treatment effectiveness and better targeting reduces the possible side effects of radiotherapy. State-of-the-art motion management techniques allow patients to breathe naturally during treatment sessions, increasing treatment accuracy, reducing stress and increasing patient comfort.
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INSURANCE
Please bring your insurance card(s) to the first appointment. Most insurance covers the costs for radiation therapy but we encourage you to contact your insurance company for questions related to reimbursements. You may receive 2 or 3 separate billings: one from Fairview University Medical Center-Mesabi for the radiation therapy, one from Range Regional Health Services for the laboratory and radiology services and one from Lakeland Pathology for pathology review. Please let us know if you have any questions regarding financial concerns.
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PARKING
Parking is available on the west end of the Radiation Therapy Center building. Please park in the spaces marked HEMO/R.T. PARKING.
If you have any questions before your first appointment please call 1-800-662-8939 or 218-362-6784.
Our goal is to provide quality care to our patients in a sensitive, respectful and compassionate manner.
Download PDF Radiation Therapy Brochure
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