Transfusion Medicine – FAQ
Image Guided Radiotherapy (IGRT):
Radiation administered after imaging the patient on the treatment couch. This ensures accurate treatment, addresses motion and positioning of patients on the treatment couch and of tumors / organs that move e.g. prostate, which may move consequent to the filling of the bladder or rectum that lie adjacent to it. In addition, it also provides information to the radiation
oncologist regarding changes required in treatment parameters to account for the weight changes or response to treatment
Frameless Stereotactic Radiosurgery (SRS):
Sharply focused radiation beams, and sophisticated planning on
the Brainlab iPlan system, backed by the very accurate Exactrac system, to ablate intracranial targets, both
malignant (i.e. recurrent gliomas, metastases) and benign tumors. The latter include Arterio-Venous malformations, meningiomas and acoustic neurinomas. In addition (functional radiosurgery), for (trigeminal neuralgias) can also be performed. This painless, knife-less surgery is the preferred treatment modality for many brain lesions
Stereotactic Body Radiotherapy (SBRT):
The principles of radiosurgery applied outside the brain, high doseradiationis administered in a sharply focused manner to destroy cancerous lesions. This treatment is specifically lesions and for patients with early lung cancer, suitable for surgery but unable to undergo the same because of medical reasons.
Intensity Modulated Radiotherapy (IMRT):
Application of computerized algorithms to create a radiation treatment that targets the tumor and spares the normal tissue from radiation, this treatment is the standard of care in many disease sites. It is applied in brain tumors to spare the visual pathway, the brain stem and the hippocampus which is the seat of memory, in head neck tumors to spare the salivary apparatus and the structures involved in swallowing. Similarly in chest, abdominal and pelvic tumors to, this technique is used to reduce dose to normal organs that lie adjacent to the tumor.
3D Conformal Radiotherapy:
This forms basis of mod-ern radiotherapy techniques outlined above, the essence of this treatment method is the creation of a virtual model of each individual patient in a treatment planning computer and then creating a radiation plan using radiation “beams” that match the shape i.e., conform to the tumor.
High Dose Rate (HDR) Brachytherapy:
is the insertion or application of a radiation source directly into or on a tumor. An essential component of the treatment of gynecological cancers, it is also used in the
treatment of cancer of the tongue and cheek. In addition it can be placed in the “tumorbed ” in cancers such as soft tissue sarcomas, for a short, intense course of radiotherapy. The High Dose Rate Cobalt 60 source ensures a short treatment time, measured in minutes rather than days, as is the case in low dose rate radiotherapy
Tumor Board & Group Tumor Board
The paradigm in cancer treatment today is multidisciplinary care.
Apollo Cancer Institute is committed to delivering top notch quality care not only in terms of technology but also in terms of individualized treatmeplans tailored to the patient’s specifc indications. The thrice weekly tumor board and monthly group tumor board meetings fosters discussion between surgical,medical and radiation oncologists. For discussing sequencing of treatment as per the latest evidence based guidelines, hence optimising treatment outcomes.
Cancer Awareness Program
Cure of cancer can be just prevention. We are organizing cancer awareness camps and health talks on regular basis in our community, so that the facts about cancer are correctly disseminated in the society and importance of timely diagnosis is reite ated among the members of our community.
Hopes Program (Helping Our Patients And Families Through Education And Support) –
The HOPES program includes a variety of wellness services, educational and support workshops on topics of interest for patients and families.
Psycho-Social Counseling
Apollo Cancer Institute has the best supportive care facilities in the form of psycho-social therapies for the managementof cancer. It includes:
- Complete emotional support
- Psychological and spiritual support
- Palliative care to ensure better quality of life.
Follow-Up & Management Of Recurrence
Follow-up constitutes an important component of treatment and is an integral part of the management protocols at Apollo Cancer Institute. Early detection and timely management of recurrence is the principle objective of followup in cancer management. This not only enhances survival but improves quality of life of patients.
