Services & Treatments
Services We Provide:
We offer a wide range of services at Central Maryland Radiation Oncology, including:
- Patient consultations
- Treatment, including access to clinical trials
- Follow-up care
- Genetic counseling
- Support services
What is Radiation Therapy?
Radiation therapy uses high energy radiation to kill cancer cells. Regardless of the technology, the goal is to always maximize dose to the tumor with extreme precision while minimizing radiation to surrounding tissue. This helps to limit side effects to healthy areas of the body.
There are many different kinds of radiation treatment, and two primary ways it can be administered – externally or internally. External beam radiation uses a machine that rotates around the patient to deliver radiotherapy from virtually every angle. It aims high energy x-rays at cancer cells in the body, in small amounts per day over a period of weeks. Internal radiation uses a radioactive implant that is placed in or near the cancer. Learn more about radiation therapy’s role in cancer treatment from our medical director, Dr. Sally Cheston.
Therapies Offered:
It is also valuable for shrinking tumors before surgery, reducing invasiveness of the surgical procedure, and treating patients after surgery to reduce the risk of recurrence.
Xofigo® (radium Ra 223 dichloride) injections are used to treat prostate cancer that no longer responds to hormonal or surgical treatment that lowers testosterone. It is for men whose prostate cancer has spread to the bone with symptoms but not to other parts of the body. Even though Xofigo gives off a strong energy, it has a short range that does limited damage to healthy cells around it.