The USC Radiation Oncology program offers a broad spectrum of radiotherapy care to patients with cancer.  These modalities include:

External Beam Radiotherapy:
This is the most common form of radiotherapy where an external source is pointed at a particular part of the body.  The radiation interacts with the tissues and is absorbed, damaging the DNA of the cell.  USC/Norris has an advanced linear accelerator to deliver external beam radiotherapy.

3D Conformal Radiotherapy:
This technique permits the radiation oncologist to shape and deliver the high-energy beam to the cancer disease site while also protecting normal tissues.  At the heart of 3D conformal radiotherapy are high-speed computers capable of extracting CT/MRI data previously gathered from the patient, performing three-dimensional isodose calculations and overlaying the data for the radiation oncologists and medical physicist to view.  Upon acceptance of the physical treatment plan by the radiation oncologist, the tumor targeting and beam delivery data are used for positioning of the patient.  The result is the ability to deliver relatively larger doses of radiation to the tumor while sparing healthy tissue.  This approach may improve the treatment tolerance by the patient.

Stereotactic Radiosurgery to the Brain, Spine and Body:
This is a form of radiation therapy used to treat a variety of tumors.  Stereotactic radiosurgery uses information obtained from CT scans, MRI scans and/or angiograms to localize the area to be treated.  The system uses a linear accelerator to deliver a high dose radiation in these carefully targeted paths focused at the site of the cancer, while avoiding significant radiation to the surrounding tissue.

CyberKnife:
The CyberKnife Stereotactic Radiosurgery System is a non-invasive radiosurgery device that can help ablate tumors and other lesions without open surgery.  It delivers multiple beams of directed radiation which converge upon the tumor while minimizing injury to surrounding healthy tissue.  The CyberKnife is one of the only systems that integrates image-guidance and robotic delivery of radiation.  Existing conventional systems rely on an external metal frame attached to the skull for target localization, which limits their application to lesions on the head.  The CyberKnife instead uses internal reference points in the anatomy to enable frameless treatment of lesions in the body. 

Gamma Knife:
The Gamma Knife, located at USC University Hospital, is a radiation tool that is not actually a knife but which treats brain tumors without an incision and with minimal effects on surrounding healthy tissue - a key aspect when working in such a sensitive area of the body.  The equipment focuses 201 guided beams of radiation on targeted malignant or benign tumors that cannot be reached through surgery, are multiple in number, or are resistant to traditional radiation therapy.

Clinical Brachytherapy Utilizing Both Low Dose-Rate (LDR) and High Dose-Rate (HDR) Remote Afterloading Techniques:
This is the use of radioactive sources within the body.  The advantage is that high doses of radiotherapy can be delivered to a small volume with low doses to surrounding organs.  Sources can be inserted into the body cavities such as the major airways of the lung, esophagus, cervix, or implanted into tumors such as the tongue, prostate, anus and breast.  Iridium is one of the most commonly used radioactive sources for brachytherapy.  Highly radioactive iridium produces a rapid dose rate and is capable of delivering treatment in a short period of time.  Because of this, both low-dose rates and high-dose rates have to be inserted by remote afterloading in a protected room to minimize radiation exposure to the staff involved with the treatment.

MammoSite Radiation Therapy System:
Today, more and more women with early-stage breast cancer are able to treat their cancer through an option called breast conservation therapy and lumpectomy.  The lumpectomy is generally followed by 7 weeks of whole breast external beam radiation therapy.  This combination of surgery and radiation works well to prevent local recurrence of the tumor.  However, some patients find it difficult to complete almost two months of radiation therapy.  The MammoSite Radiation Therapy System is a method of partial breast irradiation that works by delivering radiation from inside the breast to the tissue where cancer is most likely to recur.  Radiation therapy with MammoSite can usually be completed in 5 days.  This treatment is provided on an outpatient basis.

Clinical Hyperthermia:  Deep, Superficial, Interstitial and Intracavitary:
Heat delivered at 43 degrees to 45 degrees C is a sensitizer when combined with radiation therapy or chemotherapy for the management of cancer and may improve the probability of local tumor control.  At USC/Norris, clinical hyperthermia can be used as an adjuvant to external beam radiotherapy for the management of difficult, persistent and/or recurrent cancers resistant or refractory to radiation alone.

Episcleral Eye Plaque Brachytherapy With or Without Hyperthermia:
At one time, the only form of treatment for ophthalmic tumors such as ocular melanoma was the removal of the eye.  While this radical procedure can save or prolong the lives of patients, depending on the specific type of cancer, the quality of their life afterwards became uncertain.  Episcleral plaque therapy is an eye-conserving procedure in which a small metallic "plaque" containing sealed radioactive sources is temporarily placed on the eye adjacent to the tumor.