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TCSC < Radiation Oncology < Research
| Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT) | ||
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Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy, or IMRT, is a radiation treatment technique in which patients receive very precise external beam radiotherapy treatments. Thompson Cancer Survival center was one of the first facilities in the world to treat patients using IMRT on a Varian Medical System linear accelerator. Since 1998, more than 1,000 patients have been treated using this technique at Thompson. IMRT is used to automatically shape the radiation dose around tumors. In addition, a device called a multileaf collimator controls the level of radiation the treatment area receives. Since the radiation is targeted so precisely to the tumor, normal tissues are not damaged and patients can receive higher, more controlled and effective doses of radiation. Thompson provides three types of IMRT: step-and-shoot intensity modulation, intensity modulating dynamic arcing and helical TomoTherapy. During step-and-shoot treatments, the multileaf collimator reshapes the treatment field as the radiation beam turns on and off. Intensity modulating dynamic arcing differs from step-and-shoot in that the treatment unit rotates around the patient while the multileaf collimator dynamically adjusts the shape of the treatment field. The beam remains on throughout the treatment.
Finally, Helical TomoTherapy and Image Guided Radiation Therapy (IGRT) are the most advanced forms of IMRT. Unlike conventional IMRT, the linear accelerator spins around the patient once every 10 to 20 seconds to deliver a radiation that conforms very specifically to the shape of the tumor. This method minimizes the amount of radiation that surrounding normal tissues receive. |
 In IMRT, Radiation Doses are targeted from multiple directions in small Beamlets. These Beamlets add together to modulate the intensity of the radiation.
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