Tissue-Sparing Brachytherapy Available to Wide Range of Cancer Patients

Brachytherapy, a highly specialized treatment that places radiation sources into or around tumors, significantly reduces the amount of radiation exposure to healthy tissue.

Doctors Bethany Anderson and Kristin Bradley, experts at the University of Wisconsin Carbone Cancer Center, offer this minimally invasive option to a spectrum of patients with breast, gynecologic, lung or prostate cancer.

Radiation oncologists use either permanent "low-dose rate" seeds for prostate or lung cancer, or temporary "high-dose rate" (HDR) Iridum sources for breast, cervical, endometrial or lung tumors. At UWCCC, the only NCI-designated comprehensive cancer center in Wisconsin, specialists have pioneered optmial use and delivery of HDR brachytherapy to treat breast and gynecologic cancers. Read More.

Dr. Gondi Receives ASTRO Research Award

Dr. Vinai Gondi, Co-Chief Resident of Radiation Oncology, was selected as recipient of the Resident Clinical/Basic Science Research Award at the 2011 Annual Meeting of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) in Miami, FL. Dr. Gondi presented his paper entitled, "Decline in tested and patient-reported cognitive functioning following prophylactic cranial irradiation for lung cancer: Secondary analysis of RTOG 0212 and 0214" as an oral presentation.

Dr. Gondi received an honorarium of $1500 that he wishes to donate to the UW Department of Human Oncology Patient Care Fund. "It is a privilege to receive this award on behalf of the patients we serve at the UW Comprehensive Cancer Center and who have selflessly enrolled themselves on clinical trials," reports Dr. Gondi. "Through these clinical trials, we have contributed novel findings to our understanding of the cognitive effects of cranial irradiation and have developed innovative approaches to potentially preventing these effects." Dr. Gondi is also Co-Principal Investigator of RTOG 0933, a phase II trial of hippocampal avoidance during whole-brain radiotherapy for brain metastasis with the primary objective of memory preservation.