|
The TomoTherapy Hi-Art System is one of the world's most advanced radiation treatment options for patients battling cancer. It provides 3-D imaging of a tumor immediately before treatment, verifying its location and reducing the chance for errors. It then delivers radiation from a 360-degree angle for a more accurate and precise treatment.
What is TomoTherapy?
TomoTherapy is a new, revolutionary integrated cancer treatment system. It is designed to locate tumors before each treatment; deliver precise treatment with rotating beamlets; target large, small, and/or multiple lesions; and minimize radiation to healthy tissue.
Using TomoTherapy, the physician can check the location of the patient's tumor before each treatment and then deliver painless and precise radiation therapy based on a carefully customized plan. TomoTherapy combines precise 3-D imaging from computerized tomography (CT scanning) with highly targeted radiation beams.
TomoTherapy delivers a very sophisticated form of IMRT, or intensity modulated radiotherapy, and integrates treatment planning, patient positioning, and treatment delivery in one cancer-fighting system.
Before beginning a treatment, the doctor uses 3-D images (for example, from CT) and special software to establish the precise contours for each region of interest (tumor) and any regions at risk (sensitive organs or structures).
The doctor decides how much radiation the tumor should receive, as well as acceptable levels for surrounding structures. Then the TomoTherapy system calculates the appropriate pattern, position, and intensity of the radiation beam to be delivered, to match the doctor's prescription as closely as possible.
It allows doctors to take a special CT scan just before each treatment, so they can verify the position of the tumor, and adjust the patient's position if necessary to make sure the radiation is directed right where it should be.
Want more information about TomoTherapy?
Call St. Vincent's Bruno Cancer Center at (205) 939-7884. |
