Mercy News Room
August 18, 2008
Mercy Cancer Center Offers Advanced Prostate Cancer Treatment
Space-age Technology Helps Improve Accuracy of Radiation Treatment for Prostate Cancer Patients
MASON CITY, IA…Mercy Cancer Center is the only cancer facility in Iowa, Minnesota and the Dakotas to offer the Calypso® 4D Localization System™, known as “GPS for the Body®.” FDA approved for use in the treatment of prostate cancer, the Calypso System helps doctors deliver focused doses of radiation with greater accuracy.
“The primary goal of all radiation therapy is to target tumors and spare surrounding healthy tissue and organs,” said Tim McKone, M.D., radiation oncologist at Mercy Cancer Center. “At Mercy, we offer cancer patients the most advanced and accurate radiation technology available so we can attack the disease as aggressively as possible while doing everything we can to minimize side effects. The Calypso System expands our treatment options for prostate cancer patients.”
Tumors can experience positional changes due to normal body activity and organ motion. Calypso Medical's GPS for the Body® enables real-time, continuous monitoring of the tumor location during treatment and thus improves accuracy in targeting the prostate cancerous cells, while better protecting surrounding tissues and vital organs.
In an outpatient procedure, similar to a biopsy, Beacon® electromagnetic transponders are implanted in a patient’s prostate. Each Beacon® transponder is about as small as a grain of rice. During radiation treatment, the Beacon® transponders communicate with the Calypso System using safe, radiofrequency waves. The system shows with sub millimeter precision and in real time exactly where the radiation target is during radiation treatment.
“We work with each of our patients to provide them with the treatment options that best meet their individual needs,” said Dr. McKone. “There is no one-size-fits-all for treating cancer. According to the American Cancer Society, each year 218,000 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer and each one of them deserves to have all of their treatment options explained to them so they can make a treatment decision based on what’s best for their condition.” Mercy – North Iowa offers surgery (radical prostatectomy), prostate brachytherapy (radioactive seed implant), and IMRT (a highly precise form of external beam radiation). The Calypso system is used in conjunction with IMRT.
Thanks to the commitment to excellence Mercy Medical Center - North Iowa has made in radiation oncology, North Iowans can receive the quality of external beam radiation for prostate cancer as good or better than anywhere in the world. For any information specific to prostate cancer or prostate cancer treatments, please contact Mason City Clinic Urology at 641.422.6700 or Mercy Cancer Center at 641.422.6300.
About Mercy Cancer Center
Founded in 1992, Mercy Cancer Center is a recognized leader in providing cancer care services across northern Iowa and southern Minnesota. Mercy Cancer Center encourages patients and their families to participate in treatment decisions and provide the latest in treatment options and research studies. Mercy Cancer Center is fully accredited by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Health Care Organizations as well as the American college of Surgeons Commission on Cancer. Only 13 hospitals in Iowa share this distinction. Additionally, Mercy Cancer Center is one of only twenty-two percent of all hospitals in the country that have American College of Surgeons approved cancer programs. Over eighty percent of all patients newly diagnosed with cancer are treat in these approved programs.