Teaching the world

Doctors know they're doing well with a new technique when they’re asked to teach it to other doctors. And that’s the case on a very large scale with TomoTherapy, an advanced radiation system Monmouth Medical Center introduced to Monmouth and Ocean counties in April 2008.

Doctors know they're doing well with a new technique when they’re asked to teach it to other doctors. And that’s the case on a very large scale with Tomo Therapy, an advanced radiation system Monmouth Medical Center introduced to Monmouth and Ocean counties in April 2008. The hospital’s Institute for Advanced Radiation Oncology quickly became so proficient with the technology that, just over a year later, the system’s developer, Tomo Therapy Inc., selected Monmouth to be its international training center.

Four times a year, Monmouth hosts a three day program to teach up to five radiation oncologists how to use the system, says Mitchell Weiss, M.D., chair of the medical center’s Institute for Advanced Radiation Oncology.

“For the two programs we’ve hosted so far, we have had a very diverse group,” says Dr. Weiss. “We’ve trained physicians from Turkey, Taiwan, Canada and across the U.S.”

What makes Tomo Therapy special is that it combines a computed tomography (CT) scan with the radiation delivery unit. “This allows for image-guided radiation therapy,” Dr. Weiss says. “It lets us see the tumor site just seconds before we radiate it. That ensures that we are accurately targeting the tumor and can deliver the maximum amount of radiation to it while minimizing exposure to healthy surrounding tissue.” That’s particularly useful in treating tumors in sensitive areas, such as the prostate, brain, head and neck, he says, but the system can be used on any form of cancer. Such accurate targeting also allows radiation oncologists to repeat treatments in an area that has already been treated with radiation. “That was not an option in the past,” he says.

Monmouth was approached to become the training center after hosting a “users’ symposium” in conjunction with the company in April 2009. “We had about 100 doctors and physicists attending that event,” Dr. Weiss says. “The company told us then they were looking to start an international training center.” They looked at three other sites as well, but chose Monmouth in the summer of 2009.

In addition, the Madison, Wisconsin–based firm tapped Dr. Weiss to be one of five doctors in the United States to sit on the North American Tomo Therapy Steering Committee. That group is in charge of organizing the annual national meeting and setting its agenda.

Both of these designations are feathers in the cap of Monmouth’s Institute for Advanced Radiation Oncology. “It’s very unusual for a community-based program like ours to be chosen for things like this,” says Dr. Weiss. “They usually go to larger academic institutions. These honors demonstrate our continued excellence in the field.”

To find out more about TomoTherapy at Monmouth Medical Center, please call 888-SBHS-123 (888-724-7123).