Dr. Mark Engleman said Baylor Regional Medical Center at Plano’s TrueBeam Radiotheraphy system reduces the amount of time a patient spends under radiation.[/caption]

Baylor Regional Medical Center at Plano Cancer Hospital chairman Dr. Mark Engleman wants to make cancer treatment a little more tolerable and easier for his patients.

With the addition of the TrueBeam Radiotherapy system, Engleman said it is possible to use radiotherapy to treat lung, breast, prostate, head and neck cancers, including others. Treatments that used to take about an hour can now be completed in about six to 10 minutes, which means patients no longer have to hold still for a long period of time, he said.

“It is still cancer, but the cancer treatment doesn’t have to be miserable.”
—Dr. Mark Engleman, Baylor Regional Medical Center at Plano

The new machine is a way to reduce the time a patient spends under radiation. It also helps focus the radiation on just the tumor, thus protecting other useful tissue in the body.

“It is not a step down to come to a cancer program that is five minutes from your house,” Engleman said.

Apart from having to stay still for radiotherapy to treat tumors, patients with head and neck cancer might suffer from sunburns inside the mouth and throat, making it difficult to swallow, he said. In order to reduce the side effects of radiotherapy, BRMCP’s cancer program will enter a clinical trial authorized by the National Radiation Group. The trial includes testing how certain drugs can be used to reduce the effects of radiation on the mouth and throat.

Doctors like Engleman believe there are ways to make a patient’s experience during cancer treatment a lot more bearable.

“It is still cancer, but the cancer treatment doesn’t have to be miserable,” he said. “We can’t lose track of the fact that the human touch still matters. Regardless of the advances that we make in technology, having that care administered by people who genuinely care, it still matters.”

In addition to cancer treatment care, the center also has a robust scoliosis program, BRMCP president Jerri Garison said. The program’s main focus is preventive care and improving education levels in the community. She said the center has special nurses who walk cancer patients through the process—from diagnosis to surgery to postsurgery care. For families, Garison said child life specialists also help children understand the process.

“They use things like play therapy to help [children] understand feelings that they are going through,” Garison said.