Comprehensive Technology 

Using technology to stay one step ahead of cancer 

We know being diagnosed with cancer can be overwhelming. When you’re facing cancer, you want reassurance you’re receiving the best possible care — without having to travel outside our community. At Reid Cancer Center, we strive to provide you with that care using advanced technologies and techniques, close to home.

We stay up to date on the latest innovations in diagnosing and treating cancer and possible side effects treatment can cause. Your treatment plan might include minimally invasive surgery, new immunotherapies and targeted therapies, or leading-edge approaches to radiation therapy.  

You can rest assured no matter the treatment, you’ll receive care designed for your needs and your team will carefully treat your cancer in ways that reduce side effects. We want to help you face cancer with confidence. 

Immunotherapy and targeted therapy 

Immunotherapy and targeted therapies are types of medical oncology, a category of cancer treatment that uses medications to treat cancer. These targeted treatments have become very precise — able to attach to specific cells or proteins on cells and kill cancer without hurting healthy cells.  

Reid Cancer Center strives to provide the most advanced medical oncology treatments. Before you receive any treatment, you have molecular tests that help your team learn more about your cancer’s cellular and genetic makeup. Our providers offer a new technology called circulating tumor DNA, when appropriate, to diagnose and treat cancer. These tests look for cancer DNA in your bloodstream.

After testing, our providers and molecular biologists work together at special conferences to decide which medication is best suited to your cancer.  

These conferences help us develop truly personalized care. We offer treatments you might not be able to access at other cancer centers, including:

• Antibody-drug conjugates: These medications combine monoclonal antibodies, a type of immunotherapy, with chemotherapy to target cancer cells and not damage healthy cells.
• Tyrosine kinase inhibitors: These medications target enzymes in cells that interfere with how they communicate, grow, and divide.

When appropriate, we also work with oncology teams at other facilities to refer people for other cutting-edge treatments, such as chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy and bispecific T cell engagers (BITE). These two innovative immunotherapies help train special immune cells — T cells — to fight blood cancers, such as leukemia and lymphoma. BITE can also be used to treat some types of lung cancer.

We also provide access to promising clinical trials and work with major academic institutions across the country to provide the most personalized care possible. 

Radiation therapy 

Radiation therapy at Reid Cancer Center uses advanced imaging tools, including CT scans, MRI, or positron emission tomography (PET) scans, to help our radiation oncologists see your tumor and aim radiation with precision. Our technologies help us treat your cancer while protecting healthy cells and tissues.

Radiation can be delivered from a source outside your body (external beam radiation therapy, or EBRT) or inside your body (internal radiation or brachytherapy).  

Our radiation therapists use many innovative technologies to deliver EBRT. Our Varian Edge platform lets us design radiation beams that conform to the shape of your tumor and deliver precise doses of radiation faster than other systems. With Varian Edge, we’re able to provide:

• Stereotactic radiosurgery: A treatment often used for brain tumors that allows providers to deliver a high dose of radiation to a very small, well-defined target area
• Stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT): Radiation therapy that uses advanced imaging technology to deliver high doses of radiation to treat many cancers, including cancers that can’t be removed with surgery

Our radiation oncologists offer other leading-edge radiation technologies, including:

• Adaptive radiation therapy: A personalized treatment plan that lets your provider adjust radiation treatments based on your anatomy and cancer’s biology
• Image-guided radiation therapy: Radiation therapy that uses imaging to locate a tumor before each treatment to improve accuracy
• Intensity-modulated radiation therapy: A delivery technique that customizes your radiation dose to the shape of your tumor
• Optical surface monitoring: A technology that ensures you’re in the correct position for each treatment
• Stereotactic ablative radiotherapy: A type of highly precise radiation therapy used for small, localized tumors, including those in the lungs, liver, pancreas, prostate, and spine

Reid Cancer Center also offers brachytherapy, in which a radioactive source is placed temporarily inside the body, close to the tumor. For many patients with cancer of the breast, uterus, or cervix, this is an excellent option.

Our goal is to offer the newest, most effective treatments so we can treat cancers successfully with fewer side effects and, possibly, shorter treatment durations. Ultimately, we want everyone in East Central Indiana and West Central Ohio to have access to the best radiation therapy care available. 

Surgery

If your treatment plan for cancer includes surgery, you can access the advanced care you need at Reid Cancer Center. We’re committed to staying ahead of the curve, offering our patients procedures using the latest advancements in surgical technology.

In many cases today, we’re able to offer our patients minimally invasive procedures, which provide many benefits. Because these procedures use smaller incisions, patients who have minimally invasive surgery have a lower risk of complications and often recover more quickly.  

At Reid, we offer two types of minimally invasive surgery: laparoscopic surgery and robotic-assisted surgery using the da Vinci surgical system.  

Robotic-assisted surgery represents the latest innovation in cancer surgery, allowing a surgeon to use tiny equipment guided by a robot inside the body to treat affected tissue while leaving other tissue alone. This type of surgery might be an option for you if you’re undergoing treatment for gynecologic, urologic, kidney, or lung cancer.

Wound care

Cancer treatments can sometimes cause wounds that don’t heal. Our comprehensive wound care program offers care for these nonhealing wounds.  

Through our program, you can receive innovative treatment options, including hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) therapy. If your oncologist recommends HBO therapy, you’ll be immersed in a hyperbaric chamber for up to two hours at a time, surrounding you with 100% oxygen. Exposure to this much oxygen increases the amount of oxygen in the blood, which can stimulate wound healing.