Now Available At Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula
Studies presented at the American Society of Therapeutic Radiation (ASTRO) meeting last November showed that patients experienced fewer side effects when treated with a highly sophisticated technology called Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT) than with other forms of radiation therapy (RT). Fox Chase Cancer Center radiologists have begun treating prostate cancer patients regularly with IMRT, which enables them to administer higher doses of RT with great precision to the targeted prostate while sparing surrounding healthy organs.
IMRT is an improvement upon 3-D conformal RT, in that the radiation beam is delivered in approximately 60 to 100 pencil-thin beams that vary in intensity. This allows higher doses to be administered where the tumor is thickest and minimized when it is near healthy tissue.
"Tumors are not perfectly round. They come in all sizes, shapes, thickness and sometimes intertwine with organs," says Dr. Eric Horwitz, radiation oncologist at Fox Chase Cancer Center. "We precisely calibrate the computers and equipment so that we reach the target with minimal interference to other organs and the IMRT technology makes that possible."
Source: Fox Chase Media Relations, 21 March, 2002
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