Beat The Odds with Rapid Arc Radiation Therapy

Muskegon, Mich. (WZZM) - Cancer death rates have dropped 15% in the last 20 years thanks in part to new radiation technology that targets cancer tumors and West Michigan has one of the most advanced radiation treatment centers.

It's called Rapid Arc and it's only available at Mercy Health Partners Johnson Family Center for Cancer Care in Muskegon.

Donald Loss of Wolf Lake bikes over 7,000 miles every year. It's what helped him to lose over 100 pounds.

But despite his efforts to stay healthy, Donald was diagnosed with prostate cancer.

When he chose radiation therapy as his form of treatment his doctor recommended the Johnson Family Center for Cancer Care in Muskegon because Dr. Nina Johnson is the only oncologist in the state using Rapid Arc Radiotherapy.

"The dose to the target is 100% the dose to the patient is less than 70% of what would normally be given. The rest of the body receives a whole lot less radiation and the tumor receives the whole amount." Dr. Johnson explains that the higher dose of concentrated radiation improves cancer survival rates, "By being able to pinpoint the target we can increase the dose in treatment which improves the outcome."

"It's also given very quickly, the machine is on for less than two minutes. The standard time the patient would be on the table for 20-25 minutes." and with fewer long term side effects which Dr. Johnson adds can be very uncomfortable, "If you are in the prostate there's a lot of urinary and bowel side effects if you're in the lung there's a lot of swallowing and lung shortness of breath radiation head and neck all sorts of difficulty swallowing, pain on swallowing, sunburn on the inside of your mouth."

But not for Don. His radiation treatment lasted less than five minutes from start to finish, "You're so much more likely to get the positive results without all the side effects that make me happy."

There are some cancers like brain and breast that Rapid Arc is not recommended for so be sure to check with your doctor about whether or not this treatment would work for you.