The OhioHealth Delaware Medical Campus is now providing stereotactic radiosurgery, a precise form of minimally invasive radiation therapy used to treat abnormalities in the brain and spine, the health system said Sept. 7.
It's now the second OhioHealth campus in the state — alongside Riverside Methodist Hospital in Columbus — to offer the therapy, meant for cancer patients whose disease has spread to the brain.
The targeted approach allows for higher doses of radiation to be administered safely, sparing nearby tissue. While traditional radiation therapy may take 10 to 30 sessions, stereotactic therapy usually requires one to three visits that each take about 15 minutes to an hour. It's associated with fewer side effects such as memory loss, confusion and prolonged fatigue.
"This has a huge impact on the quality of life for a patient," said Andrew Freeman, MD, the health system's chief of radiation oncology. "This will be a tremendous benefit to our patients in Delaware and farther north because these patients would have had to travel, or may have not been given the option and be treated with just a more traditional course of whole brain radiation.