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ONCOLOGY IMAGING

When first diagnosed with cancer, patients are often overwhelmed with emotions and have many questions. Oncology imaging helps answer those questions, providing a clearer picture of what is happening in the body before, during and after treatment.

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Oncology Imaging and Intervention:

The information provided by oncologic imaging helps guide oncologists, surgeons, and Interventional radiologists in developing the most effective treatment plan possible.

Cancer imaging, or tumor imaging, allows physicians to:

Identify Tumor Properties and Growth
Tumor imaging allows physicians to accurately characterize a tumor’s biological properties and to select the treatment most likely to be effective based on the tumor’s characteristics.

Monitor Treatment
Molecular imaging can provide much quicker information about treatment effectiveness. For example, a PET Scan allows physicians to see within days of treatment how the tumor was affected by the therapy.

Treat the Tumor
In Interventional Radiology, our physicians can deliver concentrated doses of radiation directly to the tumor, decreasing radiation exposure to healthy tissue. Other Interventional Oncology treatments include transarterial radioembolization (radiation)or chemoembolization (chemotherapy) , Radiofrequency (heat) and Cryo (cold) ablation. (See our Interventional Radiology section or more information on these procedures.)

The Technology:

Diagnostic imaging technology is extremely varied. There are many types of machines (or modalities) and each one is designed to achieve specific information. For this reason, there is no one perfect diagnostic tool. Often the technologies are most useful when used collaboratively so that one type or form of information makes another more meaningful.

Some of those technologies include:

Our oncology imaging services include:

  • Diagnosing, staging and restaging of various cancers, including but not limited to lymphoma, melanoma, cancers of the head and neck, esophagus, lung, breast, prostate, colon and rectum, liver and thyroid.
  • Determining the presence and size of a tumor to assist with treatment planning
  • Identifying recurrences of cancer following chemotherapy, radiation or surgery
  • Evaluating the effectiveness of chemotherapy, radiation, surgery or medication

In addition to our oncology imaging services, Interventional Radiology (IR) plays an increasingly important role in treating patients with cancer. This role may begin with initial diagnosis of cancer and involvement now extends into minimally invasive treatment of malignancy alone or in combination with other treatment modalities. IR has also assists in the management of the complications of malignancy, which may result from the cancer itself or secondary to treatment. IR techniques can be used to place central venous access devices (ports for chemotherapy). Therapeutic applications of IR in the oncology patient include local tumor treatments such as transarterial radioembolization (radiation delivered directly into the tumor through an artery)chemoembolization and radiofrequency or cryoablation, as well as management of complications of malignancy such as pain, organ obstruction, and venous thrombosis.

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