Treating Cancer with Stereotactic Radiotherapy in Corbin, KY

Treating Cancer with Stereotactic Radiotherapy Healthtalks Transcript:

Richard Matter, MD, Radiation Oncology
Baptist Health Corbin

Richard Matter, MD:

Stereotactic body radiation therapy is a special technique that's easier to abbreviate SBRT, a little bit shorter, easier to say. Specifically, it’s a very unique technique that allows us to be very precise [and] deliver high doses of radiation therapy to small targets.

There are a number of patients who are good candidates. [A patient with] lung cancer is a very good one, especially [with] small solitary nodules, things that are metastatic to a different site that they can't operate on. We can treat bone. We can treat near the spinal cord. We can treat brain lesions. We can treat solitary bone, rib and muscle. It is a technique that can be employed almost anywhere in the body. You just have to pay very close attention to what the tumor needs and what the normal tissues can tolerate.

The benefits of using SBRT are very important to the patient, [and] it can be delivered close to home. We are here in Corbin. You don't need to go to Lexington or Knoxville for something that we offer here. The other benefits are it's only one to five treatments, so they're not coming in frequently. It's easier on the patient. It's easier on the family. Because the dose is so precise and the target is so small, the side effect profile is also small. The patients tolerate it quite well.

It's a wonderful and rewarding feeling for the physician to be able to offer this type of treatment. I've seen the benefits quickly and I see how it affects the patients, how it affects the family. To be able to do this here at home is very rewarding.