Currently, intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT), a form of radiation therapy, is considered the standard treatment for prostate cancer, the most common cancer in men, because of its ability to spare healthy tissue nearby. However, it's a complex and time-consuming process for both patient and provider.
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Rather than using static machine positions that are stationary to deliver radiation to the patient, VMAT, a variation of IMRT, delivers the radiation over a continuous arc around the patient, according to lead author of the study, Dr. William Hall.
"Delivering the radiation over an arc allows you to treat patients faster than a 'stop and shoot' strategy. The beam is continuously delivering radiation during the arc, which enables the machine to deliver the same dose, only faster," Hall told DOTmed News.
Comparing VMAT with IMRT in-room times for the study, researchers analyzed data, generated using custom software, and found that VMAT can shorten treatment time by roughly 14 percent.
On average, the in-room time for prostate cancer patients being treated with IMRT was 14.69 minutes and 12.6 minutes for those undergoing VMAT, which came out to approximately 2 minutes of time saved for each daily treatment with VMAT.
"Over the entire course of a typical treatment for prostate cancer this translates into nearly 2 hours of time saved on the treatment table," said Hall.
He also added that the research team he's working with at Emory University, where he is a resident in the department of radiation oncology, recently published an analysis showing that patients treated with VMAT experienced fewer side effects from their treatment.
"We have hypothesized that the lower rate of side effects could be in part due to the improvement in treatment time, which reduces the risk of the prostate moving during treatment," said Hall.
Source: http://www.dotmed.com/news/story/20410
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