Helical TomoTherapy for Radiation Oncology

Bringing the highest standard of care to East County residents.

The David and Donna Long Center for Cancer Treatment at Sharp Grossmont is proud to be the only designated TomoTherapy Treatment Center in San Diego and one of 10 in California.

On the Leading Edge of Radiation Oncology

Traditional radiation therapies use radiation to kill cancer cells in the body. The challenge is to focally deliver radiation to the targeted cells while minimizing exposure to healthy surrounding tissue.

Advances in technology help radiation therapists target radiation beams more precisely. One advance in recent years is intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT), which involves changing the shape, size and intensity of the radiation beam to match the patient’s tumor.

A new device — the TomoTherapy Hi-Art System — combines IMRT with a computerized tomography (CT) scanner so radiation therapists can view the treatment area in three dimensions right before each treatment. By seeing the shape of the tumor in 3-D, the radiation therapist can deliver the radiation beam with extreme precision, reducing the damage to healthy tissue. 

The David and Donna Long Center for Cancer Treatment at Sharp Grossmont is proud to be the only designated TomoTherapy Treatment Center in San Diego and one of fewer than 30 in the country.

Because of these technological advances, the TomoTherapy system is very fast and flexible, and will help radiation therapists treat everything from the smallest tumors to large areas of the body. It can also treat multiple sites simultaneously. Sharp radiation therapists expect to use this machine — which is FDA-approved for stereotactic radiosurgery — on a daily basis, including treatment for cancer of the head and neck, brain, prostate, lung and other challenging sites. It can also be used for retreatment radiation therapy.

How TomoTherapy Works

  1. Before each treatment, the patient lies on the couch and moves through the Hi-Art machine for a 3-D TomoImage. Images verify the shape, size and location of the tumor as well as the placement of the treatment field.
  2. The patient then moves through the Hi-Art machine again where radiation is delivered in a spiral pattern (360 degrees) to the tumor.

The procedure takes 15 to 25 minutes.

Janice

Watch a Patient's Story
The cancer team at Sharp Grossmont Hospital used cutting-edge TomoTherapy technology to bring new hope to a terminal cancer patient in this clip from the 2005 episode of "Stories of The Sharp Experience."
4:52 minutes | Watch Now | Transcript

Watch a TomoTherapy video to learn more

Watch a TomoTherapy Video
Walk through the steps of a typical TomoTherapy treatment session with this animated video.
3:56 minutes | Watch Now | Transcript

For More Information
To learn more about TomoTherapy at Sharp Grossmont Hospital, please call the David and Donna Long Cancer Center at 619-740-4500.