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TEAM LEADERS: PIONEERING NEW RESEARCH WITH NOVALIS® SHAPED BEAM SURGERY™
At the helm of the Robert J. Flavin Shaped Beam Surgery™ Center at the James P. Wilmot Cancer Center are two of the most highly acclaimed physicians and researchers in the field of stereotactic radiosurgery and radiotherapy. Serving as co-directors of the Shaped Beam Surgery™ Center, Dr. Paul Okunieff and Dr. Webster Pilcher are two internationally renowned lecturers and clinical investigators in the field of radiosurgery, radiation oncology, and neurosurgery. Both have authored and published hundreds of clinical studies, abstracts, and reports on related topics. Together, with their expert team of radiation oncologists, physicists, nurses, and technicians, Drs. Okunieff and Pilcher are using Novalis® Shaped Beam Surgery™ to treat cancers and other diseases in new, more effective ways – all producing a higher level of care and cure for patients.

NOVALIS®: SHAPING THE FUTURE OF MEDICAL TECHNOLOGY
The state-of-art technology called Novalis® was originally designed for treating brain tumors, where pinpoint precision is required to focus radiation treatment on tumors located close to critical structures within the brain that control vital functions such as speech, memory, sight, and motor skills.

Now, experts at the Cancer Center are harnessing the precision accuracy of Novalis® Shaped Beam Surgery™ to treat other areas of the body, increasing the treatment options available and lowering the complications.
TREATMENT OF METASTATIC TUMORS
Drs. Okunieff and Pilcher, along with other medical experts in this field, have found that stereotactic radiosurgery and radiotherapy may be extremely beneficial in treating various types of metastatic cancers in the brain – metastatic cancer is cancer that has spread from an original source to other areas in the body. It was a natural extension to develop approaches to deliver these focused radiation treatments for metastatic cancer in vital organs other than the brain.
Because these metastases are often more threatening than the original tumors, a clinical research project has begun at the Robert J. Flavin Shaped Beam Surgery™ Center to treat metastatic disease with Novalis® in an attempt to stop the spread of cancer and cure the patient. Treatments are currently available for cancers that may have spread to the lung, liver, bone, or brain.