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What is IMRT?
With Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT), very small beams of radiation are aimed at a tumor from many angles. During IMRT radiation treatment, the radiation intensity of each beam is controlled, and the beam shape changes hundreds of times during each treatment. As a result, the radiation dose bends around important healthy tissues in a way that spares the healthy tissue from radiation while only radiating the area. It is one of the most advanced, precise methods of external beam radiation therapy available and allows radiation oncologists to deliver radiation to a tumor, resulting in the potential for fewer side effects and higher cure rates.
Radiation Treatment in Atlanta – Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy Uses
Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy has been approved to treat the following:
- Prostate cancer
- Brain cancer
- Colon/Rectum cancer
- Uterine/Cervical cancer
- Hodgkin's Lymphoma
- Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma
- Bladder cancer
- Eye cancer
- Breast cancer (investigational)
The IMRT radiation technique has already contributed to substantially improve clinical outcomes, according to studies in the Journal of Radiotherapy and Oncology and the International Journal of Radiotherapy and Oncology. The goal is to offer the most effective treatment for each type and stage of cancer. IMRT also provides an important new opportunity to treat cancers that had been formerly considered too risky, such as those located very close, or wrapped around, critical organs. Shaping or sculpting the radiation beam and modulating its intensity to the tumor are the keys to Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy.
Click here to learn more about IMRT radiation. For more information on radiation oncology or IMRT, talk with your physician or call 404.501.6925. |