The power of the world’s top cancer minds treating your cancer
If you or someone you love has cancer that has metastasized, you want confidence and precision. You want access to the latest advances in cancer care and research. You want a treatment plan designed to help you live longer and live better. And you want hope—combined with a commitment to excellence throughout this next phase of your cancer treatment. That’s why we’re here.
A modern approach to treating metastatic cancer
- What is metastatic cancer?
- Once cancer has spread from its original location to another part of the body, it is considered metastatic cancer.
- How is metastatic cancer treated?
- For widespread metastatic cancer, chemotherapy has traditionally been used to treat the cancer, but it is becoming more common nowadays to use a combination of treatments. Theranostics, immunotherapy, radiation, chemotherapy, and even surgery have all been shown to successfully treat metastatic cancer and we use all these treatments at GenesisCare.
- What is the best way to treat metastatic cancer?
- This depends on the type of metastatic cancer and the areas that need to be treated. At GenesisCare, we’re always pushing the boundaries of technology to develop better radiation therapy treatments. Our goal is to target the cancer cells in tumors without damaging healthy tissue.
The latest radiation therapy options to treat metastatic cancers
Your treatment for metastatic cancer will depend on the type of cancer you originally had. That’s where GenesisCare’s expertise in treating multiple cancers is critically important.
At GenesisCare U.S., we use personalized treatments tailored to your specific cancer and needs. We’re proud to be a premier provider of cancer care, providing quick access to evidenced-based treatment plans using leading-edge technology for cancer that has metastasized.
Current advances in radiation therapy for metastatic cancers focus on precision, accuracy, and radiation safety. Our physicians are on the forefront of testing and proving better ways to improve radiation delivery while minimizing its risks and side effects.
If you are just starting your treatment for metastatic cancer, be sure to speak with a GenesisCare specialist. We work in close collaboration with your oncologist and surgeon to develop the right therapy option for you. And we leverage our leading-edge technologies, national clinical trials network, and unmatched care experience throughout your treatment.
Stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) is a non-surgical treatment that precisely delivers radiation to the target site in very few treatment sessions. This advanced radiation therapy technique is typically used for brain cancers. It directs high doses of radiation with pinpoint accuracy, avoiding the surrounding healthy tissue and reducing the impact on your brain and cognitive function. Most treatments are delivered in an outpatient setting, in around 45 minutes. Results from studies have shown better outcomes compared to standard treatments with fewer side effects being one of the main improvements seen by most patients.
Gamma Knife is a type of SRS and uses gamma radiation to treat tumors with sub-millimeter precision to avoid damage to healthy tissue. It is often used to control metastatic brain cancer and other tumors that can’t easily be reached with surgery. Most treatments are delivered in an outpatient setting, in around 45 minutes. Most treatments require 1-3 sessions.
Stereotactic Body Radiotherapy (SBRT) also known as SABR is similar to SRS and treats cancers within your body. It is a method of using 3-D imaging to very precisely locate and treat a small cancer target in the body. The SBRT technique is different from conventional radiotherapy techniques in that the treatment dose is higher and targeted to a smaller area around the lesion, minimizing damage to surrounding healthy tissues.
SBRT has a shorter treatment schedule than other forms of radiation therapy and limits potential damage to surrounding organs while lessening side effects through its sub-millimeter accuracy. SBRT is often used as an alternative to surgery. SBRT can be used to treat cancer cells in any body part.
The benefits of treating metastatic cancer with SBRT or SRS:
- It allows for higher doses of radiation per treatment that have been shown to be more effective in destroying cancer cells
- It focuses the radiation beam on small, targeted areas of cancerous tissue and avoids normal tissues or structures.
- It is typically given in as few doses as one to five treatments
Palliative radiation therapy’s aim isn’t to cure cancer. We focus on giving you a better quality of life by controlling your symptoms. Symptoms can include pain, breathlessness, swelling and bleeding and can be alleviated in as few as one or two treatments.
Palliative radiation therapy can:
- Treat symptoms of cancer in the lungs
- Control ulcerating tumors and reduce bleeding
- Treat symptoms of cancer in the brain
- Treat a blood vessel blockage in the neck
- Relieve pain in bone cancer
- Relieve pressure on the spinal cord
- Shrink a tumor to reduce pain
Theranostics can be used to treat cancers that have spread (metastasized), or where cancer is advanced and/or hasn’t responded to other treatments.
While in the future theranostics may be used for different cancers, to date most experience and success has been in metastatic prostate cancer and neuroendocrine tumors.
Theranostics is a treatment using diagnostic imaging to identify if target receptors are present on cancer cells, followed by precision radiation treatment that target these receptors.
If these targets are present and visible on the scan, a radioactive drug is used to treat the tumors. The drug is given as an injection and selectively targets the tumor cells while avoiding healthy areas. Most of the radioactive drug that doesn’t reach the target is quickly passed out of the body.