prostate-report.org

Arc radiotherapy treatments: Breakthrough in image-guided targeting of prostate tumors

Researchers at Stanford University (California, USA) and Aarhus University Hospital (Aarhus, Denmark), partially supported by Varian Medical Systems (NYSE: VAR), have made a breakthrough in image-guided targeting of prostate tumors during arc radiotherapy treatments. The research team has devised a method for ‘real-time’ tracking of the prostate motion that shows promise in paving the way for advanced clinical treatments. Researchers used a Varian’s On-Board Imager

Delivered in a continuous rotation of the treatment machine around the patient, arc therapy techniques such as Varian’s RapidArc technology are supposed to be fast and efficient radiotherapy treatments. For better tracking of tumor motion, its position must be updated in real-time in order to be reached by the dynamic multi-leaf collimator (DMLC). To achieve this target, a combination of MV portal images and kV orthogonal images have been tested by researchers. [ more about radiotherapy treatment ]