CHARLESTON, SC NEWS - LIVE 5 WCSC Breaking News, Weather, SportsTrident first in state to use new cancer treatment

Trident first in state to use new cancer treatment

By Nicole Johnson  bio | email | twitter

NORTH CHARLESTON, SC (WCSC) - It's a new twist on conventional radiation therapy. Trident Medical Center is the first hospital in the state to use the technology RapidArc. It helps the comfort of cancer patients during radiation treatment.

Dan Walton just finished up week two of radiation therapy for his prostate cancer. "I had two brothers who had prostate cancer, and they took the radiation treatments. They told me they miserable treatments, which they were back then," Walton said.

He's undergoing treatment with the RapidArc technology. It's similar to conventional image guided radiation therapy in that beams of radiation are used to get rid of the cancer.

With older radiation treatment patients would have to hold still on a table for at least 15 to 20 minutes, but with the RapidArc treatment it's much faster.

"You just lie down and get stretch out and in position, and then it's just about over with," Walton said.

Dr. William Collins said it's especially good for prostate cancer patients who must hold their bladder during therapy.

"The RapidArc treats with a single arc as it rotates around the patient. One rotation, about one minute of treatment time and that's it," Dr. Collins said. "You actually have improvement in targeting the cancer and sparing the surrounding normal tissues."

Walton is the first patient to get the RapidArc treatment, but he was ready to try it out.

"It's a short treatment and there's nothing to it. Anyone that needs to do it, I recommend it," Walton said.

Other than prostate cancer patients, throat cancer and abdomen cancer patients may also be candidates for the treatment.

Patients using RapidArc undergo treatment for about nine weeks for prostate cancer and seven weeks for other types of cancer. It's the same number of weeks for traditional treatments.

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