Utah doctors see promising results from new radiation therapy for brain tumors

WEST JORDAN — Doctors at Holy Cross Hospital Jordan Valley say a new brain tumor therapy is showing positive results.

This new therapy uses tiles the size of postage stamps to deliver radiation. Both a patient and a doctor at Holy Cross Hospital Jordan Valley said they are seeing a lot of benefits.

"Every day I'd have to be up (at) 9 a.m., coming to the hospital with my bald head," said Vicki Pentz, who is receiving the new therapy.

When it comes to fighting cancer, Pentz said she's sat in both chairs.

"Being in the chair next to the person dying is a million times worse than the treatment. And the treatment is bad," she said.

Her husband died from metastatic melanoma while she was being treated for breast cancer. After that, she learned her cancer had spread to her brain.

"That's endgame," Pentz said.

Desperate for anything to help her get better, she decided to try a new radiation therapy her doctor, Leland Rogers, proposed.

"I really don't want to don't want to do the thing where I have to go to the hospital every day for 33 days straight, but I mean, I would," Pentz said. "The gamma tiles were so much better of an option."

Immediately after her brain tumors were removed, Rogers implanted the tiles.

"It has four radioactive seeds in it. And the square is made of a highly and naturally absorbable material," Rogers said.

Rogers said the tiles work fast, while traditional radiation has a wait time.

"During that delay, you can have some tumor regrowth," Rogers said. "And that's another advantage to gamma tile, it's treating the tumor when there's the least of it there."

Pentz said she didn't have side effects.

"I thought it should itch," she said. "I thought it should turn (me) green when I was angry, but I didn't. I wanted to be The Hulk."

Currently, Holy Cross Hospital Jordan Valley is the only cancer center in Utah using gamma tiles, and they are showing success.

"I just heard my MRI was clear, so yay," Pentz said. "That means six months now since I've had the gamma tiles put in."

Rogers said he is looking into using gamma tiles for spinal tumors.

"If I would've known this treatment was available for the spine surgery back when he (Pentz's husband) was going through it, maybe it would have given him a little longer, too," Pentz said.

Pentz said she'll learn what happens next for her cancer treatment in three months. She said the gamma tiles have given her a new hope she hadn't felt in a long time.

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