Radiation oncology in Denver
Our radiation oncology team treats cancer with therapeutic methods that maximize your well-being.
At Colorado Blood Cancer Institute, we believe in exploring all cancer treatment options, particularly those with minimized effects on your body. Radiation therapy comes in several forms, but typically just affects targeted areas, as opposed to the whole body.
Conditions we treat with radiation therapy
Also called radiotherapy, radiation therapy can be used as a primary course of treatment, a supplementary course, or as palliative care to ease serious symptoms. Conditions we treat with radiotherapy include:
- Hodgkin lymphoma
- Multiple myeloma
- Non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL)
- T-lymphoblastic lymphoma
Radiation therapy services we offer
Radiotherapy uses large amounts of high-energy particles to kill cancer cells, or damage their DNA enough to slow growth. Most commonly, we use radiotherapy to help prepare your body for a stem cell transplant, precisely targeting cancerous areas, while protecting healthy tissues from associated effects.
Conditioning regimens
When helping you prepare for a stem cell transplant, we will typically administer conditioning regimens, which are combinations of treatments that make space in your bone marrow for new blood cells to grow. With the goal of killing cancer cells and ensuring your body doesn't reject the transplanted stem cells, we consider age, overall health and the level of your condition to determine the intensity and dosage of your regimen. This flexibility enables us to personalize radiation therapy sessions to your individual needs.
Ultimately, conditioning regimens work to suppress your immune system so the combination of treatments have the best effects. These treatments can include radiation, as well as high-dose chemotherapy and immunosuppressive agents.
High-dose conditioning regimens
The purpose of high-dose, or myeloablative, regimens is to destroy a greater number of cancer cells than standard doses of chemotherapy or radiotherapy. While high-dose conditioning regimens can be particularly effective in killing cancer cells, they can also kill healthy cells and bone marrow, requiring additional care to manage those outcomes.
The specifics of your regimen will depend on the type and stage of your cancer, along with available chemotherapy and radiotherapy protocols.
Reduced intensity conditioning regiments
Reduced intensity, or nonmyeloablative, regimens involve using lower doses of chemotherapy or radiotherapy. These are performed in conjunction with immunosuppressive agents to create the necessary space in your bone marrow for transplanted donor cells to thrive. Doing so can result in less associated stress to vital organs, and can also particularly benefit those who may be older or have coexisting health conditions.
Total body irradiation (TBI)
TBI treats the entire body with high doses of radiation, as opposed to specific areas. Some people get TBI and chemotherapy as part of their preparation for receiving a stem cell transplant. We deliver TBI in divided doses, called fractions, the number of which will depend on your treatment guideline or protocol. Each session of TBI should take around 60 to 90 minutes.
Chemotherapy and TBI
In this procedure, we administer standard doses of chemotherapy, sometimes adding one to two fractions of TBI. The specifics vary according to the type and stage of cancer, as well as available protocols. Your doctor will discuss the best medications and doses for your situation.