In October 2022, Debra Kaden received the difficult news of a breast cancer diagnosis. Among the depressing things for which she had to prepare were the tattoos traditionally put on her body as part of the radiation treatments.
“I know there are plenty of women who have scars and tattoos, so it’s just another reminder,” she said.
Using technology going back to the 1960s, cancer patients have endured tattoos and skin marks that guide medical personnel in providing radiation treatments. Patients average three or four tattoos, thus leaving permanent reminders of their cancer fight on their bodies.
Yet a technological advance allows Lake Forest Hospital and its sister medical treatment center, the Grayslake Outpatient Facility, to use Surface Guided Radiation Therapy.
In real-time, SGRT deploys 3D cameras in the ceiling of the treatment rooms that project laser beams over the surface of the patient’s body and create a three-dimensional rendering of the patient in a computer, according to Marc Posner, the LFH medical director of radiation oncology.
That has made the tattoos unnecessary. Posner said another positive development is that it eases the fears of patients who are concerned about what happens if they move during a radiation session.
“I can reassure them that this system is watching with submillimeter accuracy so that if they do move and it is more than we want them to be moving, the computer will pick up the motion and pause the radiation beams,” he explained. “They don’t have to worry about it anymore, and I have as many patients get comforted by that and that they don’t have permanent marks anymore.”
Posner said SGRT is now exclusively used at the hospital.
Among the patients receiving that bit of good news was Kaden, 62, who endured surgeries and chemotherapy as she battled Stage 3 breast cancer.
“I didn’t know anything walking in,” she said. “Anytime they could cut the corner and cheat the system, I felt like I was getting a little bit of an edge. I am very grateful they were able to do something that was a little more progressive.
“I didn’t need another reminder,” Kaden said. “I want to put this whole chapter behind me and move on.”
A Northwestern Medicine spokeswoman said there were 349 radiation patients at LFH last year, and 232 at Grayslake.
