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While I have not ever had cancer I realize that it is a very scary thing. All the more reason to goto specialists. The truth is that most doctors will pass you over to specialists immediately because cancer is one of those things you don’t mess around with. I was pointed to a cancer treatment network not too long ago called Vantage Oncology.

Their site has a long list of different cancer treatment options, such as radiation therapy and radio surgery.

I read up a little about the different technologies they have and was most impressed with the IMRT (Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy). Here’s a snippet from their site:

The difference between 3-D conformal radiation and IMRT is that IMRT can create high dose volumes that are concave in shape, sparing critical normal issues that are extremely close to and surrounded by the tumor. During each field of treatment, the dose delivered is being modulated or adjusted by the multi-leaf collimator (a device that consists of a number of “fingers” or “leaves” which project into the primary beam to create the required shape). However, in order to spare some areas, other areas will receive more radiation. It is the job of the radiation oncologist and the radiation physicist to critically evaluate the trade-offs between avoiding normal tissues and adjusting radiation doses to the tumor.

If I understand all that correctly it means that rather than doing broad shots at tumors (while irradiating surrounding tissue and organs) the IMRT is able to actually conform to the precise area around the cancer avoiding other tissues and only killing the tumor.

Check their website for details regarding treatment and cancer consultations.