First Skin Cancer Patients Treated With Electronic Brachytherapy (eBx) At University of Wisconsin Riverview Can...( WISCONSIN RAPIDS Wi...),Health

WISCONSIN RAPIDS, Wis., July 23 /PRNewswire/ -- Earlier this month the University of Wisconsin Cancer Center Riverview became the first medical facility in the world to treat patients with a breakthrough treatment of skin cancer. Located within Riverview Hospital, Wisconsin Rapids, the UW Cancer Center Riverview is the first to treat skin cancer patients with the FDA-cleared Axxent(R) Electronic Brachytherapy System from Xoft, Inc. Electronic Brachytherapy, eBx(TM) , delivers a high therapeutic dose to a cancer tumor while sparing nearby normal tissue by using a miniaturized X-ray source rather than radioactive isotopes.

The Riverview center initiated treatments on three patients with non-melanoma skin cancers under the direction of James S. Welsh, M.S., M.D., the center's radiation oncologist and a clinical professor in the Department of Human Oncology and Medical Physics at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Dr. Welsh collaborated with Yi Rong, Ph.D., chief medical physicist at UW Cancer Center Riverview, on the planning and delivery of the treatments. Dr. Rong will be discussing this process at the 51st annual meeting of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine on July 26-30 in Anaheim, Calif.

Skin cancer is the most common cancer in the United States with more than 1 million cases diagnosed annually and results in more than 10,000 deaths each year, according to the National Cancer Institute. However, if diagnosed and treated early, most cases of skin cancer can be cured. While melanoma is the most serious form of skin cancers, it accounts for less than 10 percent of all cases. Non-melanoma skin cancers, such as basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma, represent the majority of all new cases.

"We are dedicated to bringing the most complete and innovative cancer care to patients in central Wisconsin, which is why we are so excited to int
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