Advanced Imaging Technology Improves Treatment, Recovery Times for Cancer Patients
By: Vantage Oncology

Category: Business » Industry News
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Getting rid of cancerous tumors has never been much of a problem for doctors. The problem is in killing or removing the cancer without doing the same to the patient. Radiation therapy has long been among the best treatments for cancer.

Radiation destroys the cancer tissue, but it also damages healthy tissue. Furthermore, since exposure to excessive radiation increases the odds of getting cancer, cancer treatment can actually be the cause of a reoccurrence of cancer.

Since the beginnings of radiation therapy, focusing the radiation exclusively on cancerous tissues and avoiding exposure to healthy tissue has been a goal that radiation oncology has always strived for. The more a radiation oncologist is able to avoid radiation exposure to healthy tissue, while focusing larger amounts of radiation on cancerous tissue, the higher the survival rate becomes and the lower the side effects of treatment.

Image Guided Radiation Therapy, or IGRT, is a relatively new technique that allows a radiation oncologist to track and pinpoint tumor location right before a treatment session starts, allowing for a much more precisely administered dose of radiation to be delivered. IGRT utilizes imaging equipment such as CT (computed tomography), ultrasound, or stereoscopic x-rays to precisely locate a tumor prior to administering radiation therapy. Minimizing time between locating a tumor and treating it is vital, as tumors can move or change shape over time.

As treatment progresses and the tumor shrinks and changes shape, IGRT is able to indicate these changes, allowing radiation oncologists to recalibrate delivery of radiation, thereby maximizing effectiveness and minimizing collateral damage to healthy tissue.

IGRT is the latest imaging technology in radiation oncology that strives to improve to the point that cancerous cells can be identified in real time and be treated simultaneously, allowing for higher radiation doses, thereby reducing treatment times, increasing survivability, and minimizing or eliminating side effects.