Kindai University Faculty of Medicine Department of Radiation Oncology

What is radiation therapy?

The malignant tumor stands the first place of the cause of death in Japan. You should know the three major treatments of cancer, including surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy (RT). RT uses ionizing electromagnetic waves or particles, such as X-rays, gamma rays, electron beams, or protons etc. to destroy or damage cancer cells. RT works by damaging DNA of cancer cells leading to the cellular death.
Features of RT are 1) it can cure solid tumors with preserving form and function of the organs, 2) it can be applied for elderly patients who cannot be treated by surgery, 3) it is also useful for palliative cancer treatment including bone and brain metastases. For cancers of the head and neck, esophagus, lung, bladder, prostate, uterus, and anal canal, RT alone or combining with chemotherapy can cure localized tumors without surgery. Many other cancers are also treated with radiation therapy in combination with surgery and/or chemotherapy. You may have a concern about toxicities of RT. Nowadays, advanced irradiation techniques, such as intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) and stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT), are used to increase the tumor dose while decreasing doses to the surrounding normal tissues. Thus, IMRT and SBRT improved clinical outcomes of many tumors. For most patients, RT was given 5 days a week for 1 to 8 weeks. The number of treatments you need depends on the purpose of RT and type of cancer.

If you are worried about anything or asking while the treatment is on, don't hesitate to ask to our staffs.

About Medical Physics section

The Medical Physics section of Department of Radiation Oncology, Kindai University Hospital consists of 5 board-certified medical physicists. There is also a graduate course of Medical Physics, Kindai University Graduate School of Medicine. The goals of the Medical Physics section are :

l To provide the best RT technical support for cancer patients.

l Trough clinical research, to develop new accurate and effective cancer treatments, integrating technical innovation in RT.

l To educate the next generations of medical physicists and therapists..

Staffs

Professor
Yukinori Matsuo, MD,PhD
Makoto Hosono, MD, PhD
Hajime Monzen, PhD

Associate Professor
Kiyoshi Nakamatsu, MD, PhD
Hiroshi Doi, MD,PhD

Lecturer
Tomohiro Matsuura, MD, PhD
Masahiro Inada, MD, PhD

Assistant Professor
Saori Tatuno, MD
Aritoshi Ri, MD
Kazuki Kubo, PhD

Senior Resident
Naoko Ishida, MD
Junki Fukuda, MD

Doctor (Part-time)
Masaki Yokokawa, MD
Kazuki Ishikawa, MD, PhD

Lecturer (Part-time)
Kenji Matsumoto, PhD
Hiroyuki Kosaka, PhD