Subpage Banner Image

Treatment & Therapies

Treatment & Therapies

The practice of radiation oncology relies on advanced technology to help deliver highly-targeted care for a variety of cancers. The list below provides the major treatments and therapies available at Torrance Memorial.

Torrance Memorial also offers a computer-assisted merge of images from your CT, MRI and PET scans. Combining or "fusing" these images into a single master image gives physicians and therapists a better understanding of your tumor and its relationship to the surrounding tissue. This combination allows for even more precise treatment with less damage to healthy cells.

  • 3-D Conformal Radiation Therapy

    3-D conformal radiation therapy uses CT based treatment planning with three-dimensional rendering of the tumor and surrounding structures. This allows for very precise delivery of radiation doses and better avoidance of normal tissues.

  • Electron Beam Radiation Therapy

    Electron beam therapy is a form of radiation suited for treating superficial tumors or target areas, often on the skin or in the breast. Use of electron beam therapy spares any deeper structures from radiation exposure.

  • High Dose-Rate (HDR) Brachytherapy

    "Brachy" comes from the Greek word for "up close." A catheter or implant is placed into the target area, and then a radiation source on the tip of a wire is passed into the catheter to deliver the treatment. Brachytherapy is often used for breast, GYN and skin cancers. It is an excellent way to deliver high doses of radiation while sparing nearby organs from side effects.

  • Partial Breast Radiation

    Some patients with breast cancer who have had a lumpectomy may benefit from radiation treatment focused only on the surgical cavity. At Torrance Memorial, partial breast radiation can be given with 3-D conformal radiation or HDR brachytherapy.

  • Image-Guided Radiation Therapy (IGRT)

    An imaging technique that uses the Truebeam accelerator’s multiple imaging modalities to efficiently verify target position and patient anatomy before each treatment.

  • Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT)

    IMRT delivers high doses of radiation to tumors while substantially reducing the risk to normal tissue. IMRT is a complex form of three-dimensional conformal radiation therapy and one of the most precise and sophisticated treatment techniques currently available. This relatively new technology is used effectively to treat many kinds of cancer, especially prostate cancer and cancers of the head and neck and abdomen. IMRT is usually combined with IGRT or Calypso for maximum accuracy.

  • Volumetric Modulated Arc Therapy (VMAT)

    An elegant and efficient form of IMRT that delivers a precisely sculpted dose of radiation in three dimensions as the gantry of the linear accelerator rotates around the patient.

  • Stereotactic Radiosurgery (SRS)

    A non-invasive technique for delivering powerful, highly focused doses of radiation to targets in the brain in a single session or over a few sessions. SRS can ablate tumors in the brain without the need for surgery.

  • Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy (SBRT)

    SBRT delivers powerful and precise doses of radiation to targets in the spine, lungs, liver, pancreas, prostate, kidneys, or bones, often in 1-5 treatments. Similar to SRS, the goal of SBRT is to non-invasively eradicate the target tumor while sparing nearby normal tissues.

Safety and Quality

Every aspect of your treatment, planning, and delivery is given meticulous attention

Read More