Cancer Treatments & Therapies

There is rarely one right answer in cancer care. Riverside builds your treatment plan around you: surgery, medicine, radiation, and image-guided care.

Every person and every tumor is different. Treatments also change quickly, and new options keep arriving. Our team stays current on them so your plan reflects what works best for your diagnosis today.

Surgery

Surgery is often the first step in cancer care. It also helps us diagnose cancer and learn how far it has spread, and it supports other treatments.

Riverside's board-certified surgical oncologists use the latest minimally invasive techniques, including da Vinci robotic surgery. We use it for procedures such as prostatectomy (removing the prostate) and hysterectomy (removing the uterus), with greater precision and fewer incisions.

For you, that may mean:

• Less pain and scarring
• Fewer complications
• A shorter hospital stay
• A faster recovery
• A quicker return to your life

Medical Oncology

Medical oncology uses medicine to treat cancer. Your team may use one of these on its own, or combine it with surgery or radiation.

Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy uses anti-cancer medicine to stop cancer cells from growing and dividing. It is one of the most common cancer treatments, and it can be used alone or alongside surgery or radiation.

Immunotherapy

Immunotherapy helps your own immune system treat or prevent disease. It usually works best on early-stage cancers, and it can make other treatments work better.

Hormone Therapy

Some cancers grow when certain hormones are present, including many breast and prostate cancers. In other cases hormones can slow or stop cancer growth.

Hormone therapy uses medicine that blocks a hormone's activity or stops your body from making it. Sometimes it involves surgery to remove the gland producing the hormone.

Targeted Therapy

Targeted therapy uses medicine designed to switch off a cancer cell's ability to grow and spread. It aims at cancer cells rather than every fast-growing cell in your body.

Radiation Therapy

Radiation therapy uses focused energy, such as X-rays and gamma rays, to fight cancer. Certain doses destroy cancer cells or keep them from growing and reproducing.

Like surgery, radiation is used in different ways depending on the type of cancer and where it is. For some people it cures the cancer. For others it controls the disease or eases symptoms.

Your care team chooses the method based on your cancer, its location, and your overall health. Radiation is sometimes combined with other treatments. There are two main types: external radiation, which comes from a machine outside your body, and internal radiation, which is placed inside your body near the tumor.

Pinpoint Accuracy & Precision

Riverside uses some of the most advanced radiation therapies available. They target tumors precisely, which helps protect healthy tissue and limit side effects.

TruBeam Linear Accelerators

Riverside has two TruBeam linear accelerators. These machines treat tumors without a single incision.

TruBeam can reach some of the most complex cancers in the lung, liver, kidney, pancreas, brain, spine, and central nervous system. It pairs imaging with beam delivery and motion control, so your team can see the tumor and aim the beam even as you breathe and move.

Most treatments take only a few minutes. The beam is accurate to less than a millimeter.

Advanced CT Technology

Our Discovery RT radiotherapy system maps your tumor before treatment begins. A better map means shorter treatments, more accurate plans, and safer radiation doses.

The scanner has a wide opening. That makes the scan more comfortable, and it fits patients who need to be positioned a certain way. Advanced image reconstruction produces clear images while asking you to hold your breath for less time.

The system also records 4D video. Your organs move when you breathe, and tracking that motion helps your team deliver radiation more safely and accurately.

Brachytherapy

Brachytherapy places a radiation source inside your body, close to the tumor. We use it to treat cancers including uterine, vaginal, cervical, and skin cancers.

Learn more about brachytherapy in this podcast, featuring Riverside Cancer Institute radiation oncologist Dr. Issra Rashed.

Interventional Radiology

Interventional radiology uses live imaging, such as fluoroscopy, CT, or ultrasound, to guide small instruments inside your body. It often means fewer patients need open surgery.

Riverside radiologists use it to:

• Take tissue samples (biopsies) that help diagnose cancer
• Place special catheters that deliver chemotherapy
• Treat specific areas with chemo-ablation or radio-ablation therapy
• Manage pain and other symptoms

Related Services & Resources

• Riverside Cancer Institute
• Cancers We Treat
• Detection and Diagnosis
• Support and Wellness
• Our Cancer Care Team
• Conversations on Cancer Podcast
• Find an Oncologist
• da Vinci Robotic Surgery