At the OHSU Knight Cancer Institute, we provide the latest in intraoperative radiation therapy. This method, also known as IORT, enables us to deliver radiation therapy during surgery directly to affected tissue.

Radiation delivered during surgery is called intraoperative radiation therapy. It’s delivered to the “tumor bed,” the site of your tumor, right after your tumor is surgically removed.

This enables us to deliver a precise dose directly to affected tissue without sending beams through healthy tissue.

The goal is to kill any cancer cells left after surgery, to lower the risk of cancer coming back. IORT also may be used to treat tumors that are too close to vital organs to be fully removed. 

Technology: We offer the latest technology for IORT. Our Mobetron portable electron IORT device allows us to give colon cancer patients, for example, a lower overall dose in a shorter time.

For some patients with pancreatic cancer, we can use the Mobetron to deliver the equivalent of 10 days of radiation therapy in one dose.

Cancers is it used for: 

• Colon cancer 
• Pancreatic cancer 
• Sarcomas 
• Cancer in any area where it’s hard to remove