Orlando Health has opened a cancer center at its Health Central Hospital in suburban Orlando — one of the first sites in the nation to use a new cancer-fighting technology using MRI-guided radiotherapy.

With the technology, called MRIdian, oncologists can see the areas they are treating in patients in real-time and more precisely target radiation therapy. It combines magnetic resonating imaging with radiation therapy to allow specialists to track and adjust beam delivery based on any changes they see in the tumor and surrounding tissue during treatment.

“Soft-tissue tumors have subtle, natural movement during treatment, but this technology allows us to track and treat the tumor while sparing surrounding healthy tissue from radiation exposure, which may result in better outcomes and less side effects for our patients,” says Dr. Daniel Buchholz, chairman of radiation oncology at Orlando Health.

The Orlando Health UF Health Cancer Center-Health Central Hospital in Ocoee, a suburban city west of Orlando, is one of nine in the country using MRI-guided radiotherapy and just the second in Florida.

The 30,000-sq.-ft. center was built primarily with a $21-million grant from the West Orange Healthcare District. Orlando Health says it nearly doubles the size of the area’s previous cancer center. Beyond the MRI-guided radiotherapy, the facility also offers expanded chemotherapy and radiation treatment areas, medical oncology services, surgical oncology consultations, labs and cancer-support community programs.

 

Read more in our February issue.

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