Genesis unveils state-of-the-art, $2.9M device

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By Deirdre Cox Baker | Tuesday, August 12, 2008 8:32 PM CDT | () comments

Joseph Rosenthal of Davenport lays quietly prior to having his prostate cancer checked with the Tomo Therapy machine at the Genesis West Central Park location. The CT-type scanner can locate cancerous tumors and provide radiation treatment from the same machine. (Kevin E. Schmidt/QUAD-CITY TIMES) Buy this Photo

The patient waiting to be the first wheeled inside a state-of-the-art scanner professed not to be worried while technicians prepared to unveil the newest of Quad-City cancer-fighting devices Tuesday afternoon.

The $2.9 million Hi-Art TomoTherapy scanner is now in use at the Genesis Cancer Care Institute in Davenport. Joseph Rosenthal, who lives only three blocks from the institute at Genesis Medical Center-West Central Park Avenue, was about to undergo the first of

43 treatments he will receive for prostate cancer.

“I’m not worried,” he said, minutes before his radiation regimen began. “I have nothing to say but positive things about this department.”

The TomoTherapy option is designed for cancer cases such as Rosenthal presents, said Dr. Thomas Stoffel, a radiation oncologist. The device locates Rosenthal’s tumor with pinpoint accuracy and treats it with a precise dose of radiation — 232 seconds, or just less than four minutes long, in this instance.

It is more effective than other scanners in certain situations, Stoffel said, adding, “I do think this is an advance for the Quad-City area.”

The TomoTherapy scanner is the first to be used in the Quad-City region and the second in Iowa. The intensely focused treatment it provides can result in less tissue damage and fewer side effects than more conventional methods.

Rosenthal will receive a standard number of treatments, his oncologist said, and may

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experience some fatigue and a more frequent need to urinate as expected side effects.

“I think this will work out well for you,” Stoffel told Rosenthal. “I really do.”

The TomoTherapy option will work best for prostate cancer, brain tumors, lung cancer, breast cancer, head and neck cancer and cancers that have attacked multiple sites.

Genesis Health System is in the process of building the new $12 million Cancer Care Institute on its west Davenport hospital campus.

The next big equipment purchase for the institute is BrainLAB with ExacTrack from Novalis, said Dr. Christine Sharis, a radiation oncologist. Like the TomoTherapy scanner, she added, the BrainLAB allows doctors to deliver radiation to multiple sites over a shorter period of time when compared with conventional therapy. That machine is to be installed next year.

Deirdre Cox Baker can be contacted at (563) 383-2492 or dbaker@qctimes.com. Comment on this story at qctimes.com.