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Anyone heard of

Clearblue
Clearblue CSN Member Posts: 186
edited March 2014 in Head and Neck Cancer #1
Hi
In my despearte search for info regarding F.A. treatment i came across Tomotherapy Radiation treatment. Does anyone have any personal knowlege re this?
Clear
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Comments

  • hawk711
    hawk711 CSN Member Posts: 566
    #2
    Sorry but no
    Wish I did, but never heard of it before, anyone else ????
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  • fisrpotpe
    fisrpotpe CSN Member Posts: 1,349 Member
    #3
    Yes, I wish
    yes, I wish I had the availability of Tomotherapy. I have been privileged to watch a friend go thru a treatment and have the tech' explain how it works.

    The short version is Tomotherapy is it is very accurate and uses program along with scan to be able to work around some things so it reduces the side effects and long term side effects.

    For example when they did mine 14 years ago they radiated the whole neck area and I lost taste and saliva glands. With the new equipment they will pinpoint the cancer and work around the things not connected to the cancer. I have watched several friends have the Tomotherapy Radiation and have taste and some saliva.

    Clear, this is a good thing if your needing to have radiation

    John
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  • miccmill
    miccmill CSN Member Posts: 248
    #4
    fisrpotpe said:

    Yes, I wish
    yes, I wish I had the availability of Tomotherapy. I have been privileged to watch a friend go thru a treatment and have the tech' explain how it works.

    The short version is Tomotherapy is it is very accurate and uses program along with scan to be able to work around some things so it reduces the side effects and long term side effects.

    For example when they did mine 14 years ago they radiated the whole neck area and I lost taste and saliva glands. With the new equipment they will pinpoint the cancer and work around the things not connected to the cancer. I have watched several friends have the Tomotherapy Radiation and have taste and some saliva.

    Clear, this is a good thing if your needing to have radiation

    John

    Yes
    Glenn had Tomotherapy as well as Charle (Irishgypsie).

    We are lucky to have a Tomo machine here in Rochester NY.

    It's the newest, best way to deliver IMRT radiation therapy.

    Like John said, this would be a good thing if you are able to get it.
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  • TheDane
    TheDane CSN Member Posts: 27
    #5
    Yeah, right here!
    I am at Cancer Treatment Centers of America and YES, thank god, they have the Tomo-Therapy machine.
    It really is THE most up to date and sophisticated - and I service PET scanners and CT's for a living so I know what I'm talking about!

    It makes a 3-dimensional map of your neck, head, and shoulders, and the computer adjusts the beam strength according to what is in its path at any given moment. It also can shrink the beam size down as small as a couple millimeters wide. AND a "pre-scan" makes sure everything is in perfect alignment EVERY time you get a treatment.
    This is all to minimize the dose given to critical tissue or tissue that really doesn't need much dose at all.
    People who get their treatment on a Tomo-Therapy machine will experience less damage to things like salivary glands, the thyroid, teeth and jaw bone, etc.

    Bottom line: it's beam is more like a laser-pointer than say, a flashlight.

    If you or someone you know is going to have radiation therapy - I strongly urge you to find a facility that uses this bad boy!

    I just finished treatment #11 out of 35 today. So far so good.

    Cheers!

    ~Dane
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  • Hondo
    Hondo CSN Member Posts: 6,636 Member
    #6
    TheDane said:

    Yeah, right here!
    I am at Cancer Treatment Centers of America and YES, thank god, they have the Tomo-Therapy machine.
    It really is THE most up to date and sophisticated - and I service PET scanners and CT's for a living so I know what I'm talking about!

    It makes a 3-dimensional map of your neck, head, and shoulders, and the computer adjusts the beam strength according to what is in its path at any given moment. It also can shrink the beam size down as small as a couple millimeters wide. AND a "pre-scan" makes sure everything is in perfect alignment EVERY time you get a treatment.
    This is all to minimize the dose given to critical tissue or tissue that really doesn't need much dose at all.
    People who get their treatment on a Tomo-Therapy machine will experience less damage to things like salivary glands, the thyroid, teeth and jaw bone, etc.

    Bottom line: it's beam is more like a laser-pointer than say, a flashlight.

    If you or someone you know is going to have radiation therapy - I strongly urge you to find a facility that uses this bad boy!

    I just finished treatment #11 out of 35 today. So far so good.

    Cheers!

    ~Dane

    Hi Dane

    Glad to hear the Tomo-Therapy is working well for you, please keep us posted on your progress
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  • Clearblue
    Clearblue CSN Member Posts: 186
    #7
    Hondo said:

    Hi Dane

    Glad to hear the Tomo-Therapy is working well for you, please keep us posted on your progress

    tnx a lot
    Hi, i have just sent your stuff off to our " never have more than 8 minutes" Onco team".
    Hondo i hope you get some relief and are able to finally have change regarding your Jaw.

    Dane, can i have the names of the Docs, Oncologists treating u with this.

    jUST READ THE "10 YEAR SURVIVAL RADIATION AND EFFECTS".How totally backwards that the developement of treatmnet is such that people are subjected to such barbaric forms of treatment.

    CLEAR
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  • Clearblue
    Clearblue CSN Member Posts: 186
    #8
    Clearblue said:

    tnx a lot
    Hi, i have just sent your stuff off to our " never have more than 8 minutes" Onco team".
    Hondo i hope you get some relief and are able to finally have change regarding your Jaw.

    Dane, can i have the names of the Docs, Oncologists treating u with this.

    jUST READ THE "10 YEAR SURVIVAL RADIATION AND EFFECTS".How totally backwards that the developement of treatmnet is such that people are subjected to such barbaric forms of treatment.

    CLEAR

    Availability -accuracy
    1there a reason, beyond availablitiy,that people dont have this technology.?
    2Howcan i fnd which Hosptls have this equipment and use it
    Clear
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  • TheDane
    TheDane CSN Member Posts: 27
    #9
    Clearblue said:

    Availability -accuracy
    1there a reason, beyond availablitiy,that people dont have this technology.?
    2Howcan i fnd which Hosptls have this equipment and use it
    Clear

    Tomotherapy Locations
    Here is the Company's index of installed systems:

    http://www.tomotherapy.com/centers/index

    ~Cheers!
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  • TheDane
    TheDane CSN Member Posts: 27
    #10
    Clearblue said:

    Availability -accuracy
    1there a reason, beyond availablitiy,that people dont have this technology.?
    2Howcan i fnd which Hosptls have this equipment and use it
    Clear

    Too new
    The Tomotherapy machine is pretty new, and I'm sure it is very expensive.

    I looked at the Company's index of installations - more than I expected. (See my post right above this one.)
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  • fisrpotpe
    fisrpotpe CSN Member Posts: 1,349 Member
    #11
    TheDane said:

    Tomotherapy Locations
    Here is the Company's index of installed systems:

    http://www.tomotherapy.com/centers/index

    ~Cheers!

    thanks
    TheDane, thanks for this link. Very help full.

    John
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