Area patients don’t have to travel long distances
to take advantage of a new system that increases
the effectiveness of radiation treatment and
decreases long-term complications, thanks to
recent installations at the Finger Lakes Radiation
Oncology Center in Clifton Springs, N.Y., and
its sister center, the Batavia Radiation Oncology
Center.
Called “BAT” for “B-mode Acquired Targeting,” it can be used
as an enhancement to Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT), itself a
groundbreaking treatment system first introduced to the Finger Lakes area
by the Clifton Springs radiation center and subsequently installed in the
Batavia center. IMRT conforms the radiation beam to the size and shape of the tumor.
BAT takes the process a step further by allowing the therapist to detect
and compensate for even the slightest movement in the tumor that might occur
between treatments. It is ideally used for radiation of the prostate, breast, head and neck, bladder and pancreas.
“In the IMRT treatment of prostate cancer, for example, we use the BAT system to ensure that the entire prostate is covered by the powerful beam
of radiation, while keeping the doses to the surrounding structures within
safe limits,” said Dr. Sidney Sobel, the centers’ executive director.
“The BAT is a sophisticated computer ultra-sound system, which allows us
to see the patient’s internal organs prior to each treatment. Certain
structures, such as the prostate, can be in a slightly different position each day. The BAT overlays contours of the bladder, rectum and
prostate from the patient’s computer plan onto ultrasound images. The
therapist can
then adjust the patient’s position very precisely so that the two images
match, thus assuring that the beam’s curative radiation conforms
perfectly to the tumor.”
Explaining why the Finger Lakes Radiation Oncology and the Batavia
Radiation Oncology Centers became the first in the area to use BAT technology, Dr.
Sobel said, “Previously, to get this improved treatment, cancer patients
had to travel out of the upstate Finger Lakes Region. That can be expensive
and time consuming; our goal is to make the best care readily available to
people in our area.”
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