The Lahey Health Cancer Institute (LHCI) offers a full range of radiation therapy techniques to treat thoracic (chest/lung) cancer, including high-dose targeted radiation, also called stereotactic body radiotherapy. This is given in three to five treatments as opposed to the standard six- or seven-week course of treatment.
Adapting Our Care for You
We are focused on not exposing you to unnecessary radiation, so we are particularly skilled at adapting our services to treat you with the least amount of radiation needed.
Stereotactic Radiosurgery Brachytherapy External Radiation Quality and Safety
Stereotactic Radiosurgery
Among the radiation therapy options at Lahey Health is a procedure called stereotactic radiosurgery. This is a form of radiation therapy that focuses high-power energy on a small area of the body.
Stereotactic radiosurgery targets and treats cancerous tissue while minimizing damage to nearby healthy tissue. It is used to treat a number of different types of cancer, including lung cancer, particularly in people who might not be candidates for surgery.
Brachytherapy
Another type of radiation therapy at LHCI is brachytherapy, a procedure in which radioactive pellets that resemble seeds are placed in the body at the site of the cancer. These seeds give off radiation to kill cancer cells.
External Radiation
External radiation, also called external beam radiation, is the most common type of radiation therapy to treat cancer. At Lahey, we have the most up-to-date equipment and experienced radiologists to allow for more precise delivery of the high-energy beams used to kill cancer cells while doing less damage to normal tissues.
Our radiation oncology services include high-tech procedures such as intensity modulated radiation therapy, image-guided radiation therapy, and hyperfractionated radiation therapy.
Quality and Safety Accreditation
Your safety is very important to us. Some of our quality and safety initiatives for radiation therapy include:
- Lahey uses the XECAN patient care and safety management system, which is technology that helps ensure the correct treatment of cancer patients.
- We have an overarching safety program called the Radiation Oncology Safety Initiative (ROSI), which focuses on all aspects of radiation oncology that have an effect on safety.
- We are members of the Clarity Patient Safety Organization (PSO), which operates the national Radiation Oncology Incident Learning System. By belonging to a national incident-learning database, we are able to compare our experience to that of all other participating institutions in the country, enhancing the potential for discovering significant error-prevention opportunities.
- All of the radiation therapy sites within the Lahey Health system are accredited by the American College of Radiology (ACR), which ensures quality and safety in patient care.