STATE OF THE ART RADIATION THERAPY 

In addition to the highly specialized 3-D conformal treatment planning system that has been and continues to be available at the Welch Cancer Center, Varian’s SmartBeam IMRT^® is now available as an optional radiation therapy treatment approach. 

IMRT can be used to treat tumors that might have been considered untreatable in the past due to close proximity of vital organs and structures. Treating such tumors requires tremendous accuracy. In the case of prostate cancer, exposure of the nearby bladder or rectum can be minimized. IMRT is being used and has shown to be highly successful in the treatment of tumors in the breast, brain, head and neck, liver, lung, nasopharynx, pancreas, prostate and uterus.

The Welch Cancer Center’s three-dimensional conformal treatment planning system also consists of powerful computer programs. The CMS XiO^® 3-Dimensional Treatment Planning System optimizes a treatment plan based on the physician’s dose instructions and information about the tumor size, shape and location of the body, from which data it collects from the CT Scan.  

The Linear Accelerator is equipped with a special device called a multileaf collimator. The Multileaf Collimator (MLC) shapes the radiation beams, delivering the radiation in accordance with the treatment plan. This equipment can be rotated around the patient to send radiation beams from the most favorable angles for giving the tumor a high dose while preserving healthy tissue.

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