Radiation Oncology

Brachytherapy, also called internal radiation therapy, places radiation directly inside or very close to the tumor. This allows a higher dose to reach the cancer while helping protect nearby healthy tissue. It’s commonly used for gynecologic and prostate cancers, and treatments are often shorter, depending on your personalized care plan.

Offered at: Baptist MD Anderson (downtown)

CT simulation uses detailed imaging to map your treatment before it begins. This planning process helps ensure radiation is delivered precisely to the tumor while protecting healthy tissue.

Offered at: Baptist MD Anderson (downtown), Baptist South and Baptist Clay

Deep inspiration breath hold is a technique used during radiation therapy where you take and hold a deep breath for a short time while treatment is delivered. This gently moves certain organs, like the heart, away from the treatment area, helping protect them from radiation, especially during breast and lung cancer treatment.

Offered at: Baptist MD Anderson (downtown), Baptist South and Baptist Clay

External beam radiation therapy is the most common type of radiation treatment and delivers radiation from outside the body to target cancer as accurately as possible. Treatments are carefully planned to match your anatomy, helping protect healthy tissue while effectively treating the tumor.

Intensity-Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT) is an advanced type of external beam radiation therapy that shapes and adjusts the strength of radiation beams to match the exact size and shape of your tumor. This allows your care team to deliver higher doses to cancer cells while reducing exposure to nearby healthy tissue.

Surface-guided radiation therapy uses advanced tracking technology to position you for external beam treatment as accurately as possible. This approach can improve comfort and may reduce the need for permanent skin markings.

Offered at: Baptist MD Anderson (downtown), Baptist South and Baptist Clay

Prone breast therapy is a treatment position where you lie on your stomach instead of your back during radiation therapy. This positioning allows the breast to fall away from the chest, which can help reduce radiation exposure to nearby healthy tissue like the heart and lungs.

Offered at: Baptist MD Anderson (downtown), Baptist South and Baptist Clay

Radiopharmaceutical therapy uses targeted radioactive medicine that travels through your bloodstream to find and treat certain cancers and conditions. Once it reaches the affected area, it delivers radiation directly to those cells while limiting exposure to healthy tissue. This approach is used for conditions such as thyroid and prostate cancer and is closely monitored by a specialized care team.

Offered at: Baptist MD Anderson (downtown), Baptist South and Baptist Clay (select therapies may be downtown only)

Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy (SBRT) delivers highly focused, high-dose radiation to tumors in the body, such as cancers of the lung, liver or spine. Treatments are typically completed in just a few sessions. By targeting the tumor very precisely, SBRT helps protect nearby healthy tissue while effectively treating the cancer.

Offered at: Baptist MD Anderson (downtown), Baptist South and Baptist Clay

Stereotactic Radiosurgery (SRS) is a specialized form of radiation therapy most often used to treat tumors or conditions in the brain. Despite the name, it does not involve surgery—there are no incisions. Instead, it delivers a single or small number of highly precise, high-dose radiation treatments to target the area while minimizing impact on surrounding brain tissue.

Offered at: Baptist MD Anderson (downtown)

Total body irradiation delivers radiation to the entire body as part of a carefully planned treatment approach. It is most often used to prepare the body for certain stem cell or bone marrow transplants.

Offered at: Baptist MD Anderson (downtown)

Total skin electron therapy targets skin cancer by delivering radiation to the body's surface. This approach helps treat the skin while limiting exposure to deeper tissues.

Offered at: Baptist MD Anderson (downtown)

Radiation therapy can also be used to treat certain non-cancerous conditions. Targeting the affected area can help reduce symptoms and improve the quality of life for certain conditions, including:

• Arterial-Venous Malformations (AVM)
• Meningioma
• Acoustic Schwannoma
• Keloid
• Heterotopic Joints (typically hips)
• Osteoarthritis

Offered at: Baptist MD Anderson (downtown)