Raising the bar in cancer care. This is GenesisCare.

The causes of these cancers are not fully understood, however, there are risk factors that can increase the likelihood of you developing them.

Having a risk factor for a disease doesn’t mean that you will definitely get it, but it does make it more likely. You may even have multiple risk factors for brain and spinal cord cancers and never get them.

The main risk factor for primary brain cancer is radiation. Radiation therapy for primary brain cancer is associated with a 55% increased risk of further brain tumors. Other risk factors include:

•  Age – adult brain tumors can occur at any age, but are most common in people 50 to 70 years old
•  Sex – there is a higher incidence of primary brain tumors in men compared to women
•  Having certain genetic conditions, such as neurofibromatosis or Li-Fraumeni syndrome
•  A family history of CNS tumors
•  Having diabetes if you’re female
•  Having another condition, such as Parkinson’s disease, HIV infection or AIDS

There are several early warning signs of cancers of the CNS, and these can vary from person to person. As the tumor grows, it takes up more space. Depending on its location, the growing tumor starts to increase pressure in your skull or on the nerves in close proximity, causing symptoms.

Common symptoms include:

• Headaches
• Tiredness and feeling drowsy
• Nausea and vomiting
• Changes to vision, speech or hearing
• Fits

Other symptoms you may experience can be related to the area of the brain your tumor has developed in.

Symptoms by brain area:

• Frontal lobe – changes in personality and intellect, difficulty in walking, weakness of one side of the body, loss of smell, speech difficulties
• Parietal lobe – difficulty speaking or understanding words, problems with writing, reading or calculations, difficulties in coordinating movements and finding your way around, numbness or weakness on one side of the body
• Temporal lobe – seizures, feelings of fear or déjà vu, strange smells or blackouts, speech difficulties, memory problems
• Occipital lobe – loss of vision to one eye which may not be noticeable at first and can sometimes be discovered during routine eye tests
• Cerebellum – lack of coordination, slurred speech (dysarthria), unsteadiness, flickering involuntary movement of the eyes (nystagmus), vomiting, neck stiffness
• Brain stem – unsteadiness and an uncoordinated walk, facial weakness, a one-sided smile or drooping eyelids, double vision, speaking and swallowing difficulties, vomiting or headache just after waking (this is rare)
• Meninges – headaches sickness and problems with sight and movement
• Pituitary gland – irregular periods, infertility, weight gain, lethargy, high blood pressure, diabetes, mood swings, enlarged hands and feet, tunnel vision

If your cancer started in the cranial nerves, you may experience:

• Vision problems
• Swallowing difficulties
• Hearing loss in one or both ears
• Facial paralysis, numbness or pain

Spine cancers usually cause symptoms on both sides of the body, such as numbness in both legs. This is different from most brain tumors which often only affect one side of the body. Spine cancers can also cause different symptoms, depending on where in the spinal cord the tumor is found:

• Spinal cord tumors in the neck affect the arms and legs, as well as bowel and bladder function
• Spinal cord tumors below the neck affect the legs, bowel and bladder

Sometimes these symptoms may be caused by other benign (non-cancerous) conditions. If you have one or more symptoms and are concerned, you should visit your doctor.

Our standard of care starts by offering the latest diagnostic tests and treatments for brain, spine and CNS cancers — including surgery, chemotherapy and advanced radiation therapy such as stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS). Your care team can also give you advice about well-being and nutrition that you can follow throughout the course of your treatment and beyond.

Our multidisciplinary teams are comprised of world-class physicians and expert support staff, who work together to ensure you always receive the best possible care that’s focused on you, not just your cancer.

EBRT is delivered from outside of the body and aims an accurate x-ray beam from multiple angles directly toward the treatment site within the breast, chest wall or under the arm. It is typically performed on an outpatient basis, so there’s no hospital stay required, usually once a day over the course of a few weeks.

IMRT is an advanced external beam radiation therapy technique where the beams of radiation are precisely shaped to exactly match your tumor, which limits radiation exposure to adjacent healthy tissue.

SGRT uses sophisticated 3D camera technology to help your radiation therapy care team to position you for treatment more accurately each day, without the need for permanent tattoos. The technology also monitors any unintended movements to might make during the treatment and will pause the radiation until you are back in the correct position.

HDR brachytherapy is an internal radiation therapy that delivers radioactive pellets to the tumor site through small plastic tubes called catheters. This is usually done in one session and the radioactive pellets are removed after 20 minutes.

This form of radiation typically uses at least two beams that are shaped or modified by your radiation team to deliver a therapy that conforms to the desired treatment. The shaping of the beam is generally done by the medical dosimetrist or doctor to give you a personalized radiation plan.

GenesisCare also uses surface-guided technology for deep inspiration breath hold, which is a breathing technique used during left-sided breast cancer treatment to help minimize exposing your heart to radiation during treatment. With AlignRT®, we monitor the position of your chest during treatment. Our team works to educate you on how to control your breathing pattern during treatment, so radiation is delivered only when you are in a deep inspiration, or when your heart is further away from the radiation beam.

If you struggle to be on your back or hold your breath, prone positioning radiation therapy may be another option to receive radiation therapy and protect the heart. In this instance, you may lie on your stomach to receive radiation. This position uses gravity to move the breast tissue away from the chest wall to safely deliver radiation therapy while minimizing dose to the heart.

EBRT is delivered from outside of the body and aims an accurate x-ray beam from multiple angles directly toward the treatment site within the breast, chest wall or under the arm. It is typically performed on an outpatient basis, so there’s no hospital stay required, usually once a day over the course of a few weeks.

IMRT is an advanced external beam radiation therapy technique where the beams of radiation are precisely shaped to exactly match your tumor, which limits radiation exposure to adjacent healthy tissue.

Our standard of care starts by offering the latest diagnostic tests and treatments for head and neck cancers – including surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy and targeted therapies. Your care team can also give you advice about well-being and nutrition that you can follow throughout the course of your treatment and beyond.

We know from our experience that high-quality care means treating you as a person and not just your cancer. Our expert team will treat your disease in the best way possible, while offering as much personal support as you need.

IMRT is an advanced external beam radiation therapy technique where the beams of radiation are precisely shaped to exactly match your tumor, which limits radiation exposure to adjacent healthy tissue.

SGRT uses sophisticated 3D camera technology to help your radiation therapy care team to position you for treatment more accurately each day, without the need for permanent tattoos. The technology also monitors any unintended movements to might make during the treatment and will pause the radiation until you are back in the correct position.

VMAT is an advanced form of IMRT that directs beams of radiation in an arc across the treatment area. Together with surface-guided radiation therapy (SGRT), it’s possible to very accurately target areas of cancer, adjusting the beam and intensity of radiation dose to allow for movements in the body and avoid tissues nearby.

PSMA PET uses a PET-sensitive drug that is FDA approved. This radioactive imaging agent binds to prostate cancer cells to help localize prostate cancer. It’s a very precise diagnostic test. It can identify prostate cancer that can’t be seen on other types of imaging. It’s used for primary staging of intermediate or high risk disease. It can also show how well your body has responded to any treatment. It helps with the planning of treatment for secondary (metastatic) cancer.

GenesisCare is one of the first medical centers in the US offering FDA approved PSMA PET to deliver the best possible life outcomes. PSMA PET is most effective and precise for localizing metastatic prostate cancer. With PSMA PET scans, we use targeted imaging to detect areas of suspected metastasis for initial therapy and suspected recurrence based on an elevated serum prostate-specific antigen (PSA) level.

EBRT is delivered from outside of the body and aims an accurate x-ray beam from multiple angles directly toward the treatment site within the breast, chest wall or under the arm. It is typically performed on an outpatient basis, so there’s no hospital stay required, usually once a day over the course of a few weeks.

IMRT is an advanced external beam radiation therapy technique where the beams of radiation are precisely shaped to exactly match your tumor, which limits radiation exposure to adjacent healthy tissue.

SBRT combines VMAT and image guidance with high radiation doses per treatment. Typically, the entire course of SBRT is completed in as few as 5 treatments.