Highland Hospital Internationally Recognized for HDR Brachytherapy

A 2013 visit to the Odette Cancer Centre in Toronto was the beginning of a new cancer treatment program at Highland Hospital.

Hong Zhang, M.D., Ph.D., Professor - Department of Radiation Oncology, learned of a high-dose-rate (HDR) brachytherapy treatment being performed at Odette, and she wanted to bring it to Highland.

Zhang, along with Kevin Bylund, M.D., Associate Professor - Department of Radiation Oncology; David Gentile, M.D., Chief of Highland’s Urology Division; Ahmad Matloubieh, M.Sc., Clinical Senior Associate - Department of Radiation Oncology; and Nancy Marou, R.N., Clinical Manager of Radiation Oncology, went to Odette to learn more about the treatment.

One year later, Highland began performing the procedure, which has grown into a robust program. The first year, eight patients with prostate cancer were treated with HDR brachytherapy. Today, Highland completes about 180 prostate HDR brachytherapy cases per year.

Highland is the only place offering the procedure in the region, serving patients from Buffalo to Syracuse, the Southern Tier and Pennsylvania.

More targeted radiation, less treatment time

Prostate brachytherapy involves placing flexible needles into the prostate under general anesthesia while using real-time ultrasound imaging to ensure precise targeting.

High-dose-radiation or HDR is delivered directly to the prostate, minimizing radiation exposure to surrounding organs, such as the bowel and bladder. Because of the high dose rate of radiation delivery, general anesthesia ensures the patient does not move during treatment.

While the more traditional external beam therapy typically requires approximately 20 to 30 sessions, the outpatient prostate HDR procedure can be performed in two treatments, with treatments occurring a week apart. This procedure is conducted in radiation oncology on an outpatient basis, so patients go home the same day.

In addition to the Prostate HDR program, Highland also embraces a longstanding GYN HDR program that continues to grow, treating cervical, endometrial, vaginal, and vulvar cancers. Highland serves patients from the same regions as the prostate cancer patients. GYN cases average about 250 per year.

Highland is fortunate to have Hope Lodge close by where many out-of-town patients stay during treatment at Highland.

An international training center
Highland Hospital Radiation Oncology is home to the dedicated HDR brachytherapy suite — affiliated with the Wilmot Cancer Institute — which now serves as a training center for radiation oncology fellows. Highland is one of 13 training centers in the U.S. and Canada. Trainees learn the standard HDR brachytherapy techniques for prostate and gynecological cancers.

“When we started, we had no idea our program would grow like this,” Marou said. “Our HDR brachytherapy suite became a reality because of the buy-in from then-COO Cindy Becker and the administration and because of the hard work of the doctors – who are true pioneers for bringing this to Rochester and making the program what it is today.”

“We are so fortunate to have had the support, the space and the equipment to get this program going,” Marou added. “For our small, community hospital to have a program like this is amazing. It took a lot of collaboration from many people and a number of different departments at Highland. The phrase, ‘It Takes a Village,’ certainly applies to our program’s evolution and success.”

(Highland’s brachytherapy program is part of the Wilmot Caner Institute, which the National Cancer Institute (NCI) recently named as the nation’s 73rd designated cancer center. The distinction places the institute in the top 4 percent of all cancer centers in the United States.)

9/15/2025