Qualified staff makes radiation therapy safe

By Dr. Janet Merfeld

Cancer is a serious and potentially life-threatening illness. Radiation therapy is one of the safest and most effective ways to treat this disease.

About half of all people with cancer are treated with radiation therapy either alone or in combination with other types of cancer treatment. More than 11 million cancer survivors alive today have benefited from radiation therapy.

Recent technological advances have made it possible to more precisely define the targets and eliminate tumors while sparing healthy normal tissue and minimizing side effects.

Recently, the New York Times published a number of articles on the treatment of people with cancer and has focused on the tremendous developments in the area of radiation treatments. However, with these treatments has come the potential for injury to occur. In their review of thousands of patients treated in New York between 2001 and 2008, and receiving hundreds of thousands of individual radiation treatments, 621 treatment errors occurred.

The review showed that the vast majority of these errors were the result of overworked or inexperienced staff members who did not follow correct safety protocols. Or, in those cases of patients treated with the most advanced technology available, they used out-of-date safety assessment measures to verify the treatment delivered.

These stories point out the critical value of a qualified, certified and experienced radiation oncology team, committed to safety protocols and subject to the highest levels of scrutiny. Board-certified medical physicists ensure each radiation dose matches the physician's prescription for each patient.

The Hall Radiation Center, located in Mercy's Regional Cancer Center is privileged to have two full-time medical physicists who oversee the complex process of treatment planning, quality control of the radiation equipment and compliance with state and federal standards.

The two board-certified medical dosimetrists play a critical role by calculating, verifying and developing radiation treatment plans for each patient. Registered radiation therapy technologists operate the treatment machines and ensure the correct treatment is done each day. Oncology nurse specialists assess patient responses and help deal with anticipated side effects.

The Hall Radiation Center at the Mercy Medical Center is committed to the delivery of the appropriate radiation treatment necessary for each person to cure his or her cancer. Patients should feel safe seeking treatment at a cancer center with a strong accreditation program that already meets, or exceeds, any current national standards.

Dr. Janet Merfeld is Radiation Oncologist at Mercy Medical Center in Cedar Rapids.