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Targeted Radiation

Program: Skull Base Surgery
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Gerald:

That's correct. I was very confident when I went into radiation knowing that they had fully briefed me on exactly what they were trying to do and the care they were taking to target the radiation where it needed to be and protect the sensitive areas such as my eye which they didn't feel needed to be radiated in the process, and I think it's fairly sophisticated. They put a mask over you that actually shadows certain areas, as I understand it, to keep the radiation from going where it shouldn't go. And so far I've been pleased with the result.

Andrew Schorr:

Right. And in the years since you've had that treatment there's yet even more. Dr. DeMonte, I know that M. D. Anderson has one of the only proton therapy centers, and so that's yet another tool for very targeted radiation within the skull. Am I right?

Dr. DeMonte:

Exactly right. It allows extremely tight discrimination of radiation margins. It reduces radiation scatter that is seen with other treatment modalities, and it is particularly effective for quite a large group of uniquely skullbased tumors. So it was wonderful having this come online about a year and a half ago.

Andrew Schorr:

Dr. DeMonte, we were hearing Dr. Hanna talk about the advantage of bringing you and your group, neurosurgery, together with head and neck surgery and all these allied healthcare professionals working together. It sounds like you two gentlemen in particular but with the team have really been paving some new ground, and it sounds like you can really say it's making a difference.

Dr. DeMonte:

I certainly like to think so. It's been a long time coming. This is not a team that arose spontaneously. It took years to get it to its current state. I was particularly fortunate to help in Dr. Hanna's recruitment back in 2004, I think it was, the year that Mr. Ahrens had his operation. He was the final touch to the team, and so we are now fully intact and functional. It took a long time getting that way, but we're very happy to be where we're at.

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