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What is Radiation Therapy?



 

Radiation therapy, also called radiotherapy, is the branch of medicine that deals with the treatment of cancer by delivering high-energy beams directly to a tumor, or intended target.

Radiation therapy is a common form of treatment for cancer today. According to the American Society of Radiation Oncology (ASTRO), two out of three cancer patients will receive radiation therapy—either alone or in combination with other treatment approaches, such as surgery and chemotherapy. Each case is unique and your physician is the best person to decide on the suitability of radiation therapy for your treatment.

Radiation therapy has two equally important goals: to control the growth of the tumor and to do so while minimizing exposure to the surrounding normal, healthy tissue. Radiation therapy is broadly divided into external beam radiation therapy (EBRT), where radiation is delivered to the target from an external machine, and brachytherapy, where radiation is delivered by placing the radiation source inside the body near the intended target. Both techniques are used for treating a large variety of tumor types.

How Does it Work?

Radiation therapy, also known as radiotherapy, uses a focused beam of energy to damage cancerous cells while minimizing exposure to healthy tissue. Radiation damages the DNA in cancer cells, which interrupts their ability to reproduce, causing them to die and the tumor to shrink. Normal cells can recover from radiation more easily.

Treatment is delivered to the target site with a machine called a linear accelerator, or linac. The linac generates a high-energy beam, which is delivered from many different angles, to target each part of the tumor and deliver the prescribed amount of radiation. Typically, treatment is delivered five days a week over several weeks.

When designing your treatment plan, your medical team relies on one or more types of 3-D scans of your body. These can include a CT scan, an MRI, and/or a PET scan. By looking at these scans and other test results, the radiation oncologist and his or her treatment team determine which treatment technique is best suited for your particular case.



Types of Radiation offered at Precision Radiation Oncology


Due to our advanced radiation and imaging systems, we are able to offer our patients the entire spectrum of cutting edge, highly-precise treatments tailored to best address your specific cancer type and anatomy.

  • 3D Conformational Radiotherapy

This technique uses 3D scans to determine the exact shape and size of the tumor. The radiation beams are shaped by tiny metal leaves that are arranged to fit the tumor dimensions (multi-leaf collimator), minimizing the side effects to healthy tissue.

  • Intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT)

IMRT focuses multiple radiation beams of different intensities directly on the tumor for the highest possible dose. Dr. Kim uses special planning software to make sure the patient is properly positioned for the most accurate treatment.

  • Volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT)

VMAT is a new type of IMRT technique in which the radiotherapy machine (gantry) rotates around the patient during treatment. The machine continuously reshapes and changes the intensity of the radiation beam as it moves around the body through one or more arcs.

  • Image-guided radiation therapy (IGRT)

IGRT uses sophisticated imaging tests to verify the position of the patient and the location of the tumor prior to and during the delivery of the treatment. IGRT requires no anesthesia and side effects are less likely than with traditional methods. IGRT can be used to treat many types of cancer, including those that develop in the spine, lung, prostate, brain, bladder, esophagus, liver, and bone.

  • Stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS)

Stereotactic radiosurgery is not actually surgery. Instead, it uses dozens of tiny radiation beams to treat tumors with a single radiation dose.

  • Stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT)

SBRT links CT scans of the tumor site with treatment-planning software to determine beam direction and intensity, accounting for tumor motion and anatomy changes during the treatment procedure.

  • Stereotactic Spine Radiotherapy

Stereotactic spine radiotherapy uses guidance from CT scans for the highest possible dose to tumors on the spine. The CT machine moves on rails around the treatment table to constantly confirm the tumor location. Radiation beams can be instantly adjusted to account for any changes during the procedure.

  • Electron beam therapy

Electron beam therapy can be used in lymphoma, skin cancer, breast cancer, head and neck, and other cancers. There are two types of electron beam radiation therapy. If one or more spots on the body will be treated, this is called spot treatment. If the entire surface of the skin will be treated, this is called total skin electron beam (TSEB) therapy. Electrons do not go deep in your body. The dose of radiation to deeper tissues is minimal.

  • Brachytherapy

Also called internal radiation, brachytherapy involves radioactive material that is implanted in the body. Dozens of tiny "seeds" containing radioactive iodine are placed at the tumor site with a special needle or catheter. In permanent brachytherapy, the seeds are left inside the body to release radiation over time. For temporary brachytherapy, the seeds are inserted for several minutes or hours and removed afterward, usually in an outpatient procedure.

  • Palliative Radiation Therapy

Many patients receive radiation to treat symptoms that are caused by metastases. For example, symptoms such as headache and weakness caused by metastases in the brain or pain caused by metastases to the bone can be treated with radiation therapy. The goal of these treatments is to improve quality of life for patients.

TrueBeam

The TrueBeam™ system is an advanced medical linear accelerator—or radiotherapy and radiosurgery treatment system—capable of fast and precise image-guided radiotherapy.

This technology from Varian Medical Systems was engineered from the ground up to deliver high doses with accuracy in the fractions of millimeters, narrowly targeting tumors and better able to avoid the surrounding healthy tissues and organs.

TrueBeam delivers many forms of advanced treatments, including image-guided radiotherapy (IGRT), intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT), RapidArc® radiotherapy technology and Gated RapidArc. The ability to choose between these different treatment modalities represents a game-changing level of flexibility for tailoring a patient’s radiotherapy treatments. With TrueBeam, doctors can tailor treatments for each patient’s specific case.

With Varian’s TrueBeam system, treatments can be performed with unparalleled ease, precision and speed. This technology makes it possible to deliver fast, accurate image-guided treatments within just a few minutes per day.

The precision of Varian’s TrueBeam system is measured in increments of less than a millimeter. This accuracy is made possible by the system’s sophisticated architecture, which synchronizes imaging, patient positioning, motion management, beam shaping and dose delivery. The system performs accuracy checks every ten milliseconds throughout the entire treatment.

Before and at any point during a treatment, the TrueBeam system can generate high-quality 3-D images of the tumor and surrounding anatomy, and this can be done 60% faster than was possible with previous generations of Varian imaging technology. Images can be generated using 25% less X-ray dose. These images are used to fine-tune a patient’s position prior to and during the treatment process.

TrueBeam offers many other innovations, including:

Imaging tools that can verify not only the patient’s position, but also the magnitude of tumor motion during a treatment, enabling accurate tumor targeting.
Fast, automated treatment delivery management software that significantly shortens the duration of sophisticated treatments involving different beam angles.
  • RapidArc radiotherapy technology, which delivers a precise image-guided intensity-modulated treatment in as little as two minutes a day.
  • RapidArc and a new Gated RapidArc capability make it possible to use this treatment approach for tumors of the kidney, liver, lung and breast, when tumor motion is an issue.

In addition to faster treatments, TrueBeam’s enhanced communication technology enables a constant interaction between the patient and therapist operating the equipment, creating a virtual presence of the therapist in the treatment room. Three closed-circuit television systems enable comprehensive monitoring of the patient and the system from outside the treatment room. Additional enhanced features allow music to be played during treatment, helping to create a more soothing treatment environment.

Why Does Speed Matter? Faster radiotherapy treatments can be easier on the patient, who does not need to hold still for long periods of time. By reducing the time it takes to deliver IMRT and other highly precise forms of radiotherapy, TrueBeam has the potential to improve patient comfort.

The Technology: Varian’s TrueBeam is an innovative medical technology that integrates and synchronizes performance of imaging and treatment technology. The system’s imager is used to guide patient placement and treatment delivery. The machine rotates around the patient to deliver the radiation treatments from nearly any angle. The radiation beam is sculpted and shaped to match the three-dimensional shape of the tumor. This is accomplished using an important accessory called a multileaf collimator (MLC), a device with 120 computer-controlled mechanical “leaves” or “fingers” that can move to create apertures of different shapes and sizes. The MLC aperture changes during the course of treatment, to carefully target the tumor and protect surrounding tissues to the greatest extent possible.

The Benefits of Treatment on a Varian TrueBeam Machine:

TrueBeam unlocks treatment options for patients who otherwise may not have been candidates for traditional radiotherapy. It gives medical professionals the tools to treat more complex cancer cases.
TrueBeam is fast and precise. Its speed means shorter treatment times, which leads to less interruption of patients’ daily lives.
Varian’s TrueBeam system was designed with patient comfort in mind. Sophisticated engineering can enhance the patient experience.

 

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Cancer is about change. So is destroying it.

 

 

 

 

 

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