The comprehensive cancer program at Caldwell Memorial Hospital in conjunction with Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center is home to yet another new technology, IMRT.  Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT) comes to The Allene Broyhill Stevens Heilman Radiation Oncology Center, a division of CMH, just nine months after The Center opened last spring.

“IMRT is a special technology that contours the radiation beams used to treat cancer into three-dimensional forms to better target the cancerous cells while better isolating the body’s healthy tissues,” said Dr. Ted Yaeger, Associate Professor at Wake Forest University and Medical Director of Radiation Oncology at Caldwell Memorial Hospital.  “Varying the shapes and intensities of the radiation beams through IMRT helps us to deliver some of the most precise radiation therapy available.”

By using a very unique block system to vary the intensity and shape of the radiation, IMRT at Caldwell Memorial Hospital is special even among IMRT treatment sites.  “The big difference in using IMRT is that it helps patients who have difficult to treat tumors especially those of the esophagus, pancreas, lungs, prostate, eye and brain,” Dr. Yaeger said.  “These tumors are generally more difficult to treat without IMRT because we need to protect the delicate surrounding tissue even more than we normally do.  IMRT allows us to do just that and to deliver much-needed radiation therapy to our patients.  Their health is top-priority so it is extremely important to us to be able to offer this technology to them.”

Allene Broyhill Stevens Heilman Radiation Oncology Center