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 The goal of radiation treatment of
cancer is to cure or locally control the disease while minimizing
radiation to the normal surrounding tissues and organs. In selected
cases three-dimensional (3D) conformal computerized treatment planning
may be instrumental in accomplishing that goal.
Anatomical information about the
patient is obtained from a CAT scan and is entered into a specialized
computer to initiate the 3D conformal treatment planning process. The
physician, with the treatment planning team of physicians and
dosimetrists, engage sophisticated treatment planning computer programs
to define the technique for delivering high radiation doses to the tumor
while minimizing the dose to the normal surrounding tissues. The
combination of clinical expertise and the sophisticated computerized 3D
conformal system make possible the control and cure of cancer as never
before. Finger Lakes Radiation Oncology employs one of the most advanced
state-of-the-art 3D conformal treatment planning systems available.
Web Link 
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for
more information on our treatment planning system.
The next step beyond 3-D conformal
treatment planning is called Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT),
a revolutionary new radiation therapy treatment technology that utilizes
inverse treatment planning and is able to shape or conform radiation
beams to the size, shape, and location of a tumor, matching the
radiation dose to the contour of the tumor while minimizing the impact
on surrounding healthy tissue and organs. Among the cancers treated
preferentially by this technique are those of the brain, head and neck,
spinal cord, esophagus, kidney, lung, lower extremities, prostate,
abdomen, chest, and cervix.
 Three-dimensional images are
constructed from CAT scan images taken at very close intervals. These
images are then used in the specialized treatment planning system. In
conventional treatment planning methodology the fields are set by
clinical experience and modified as necessary to achieve an optimum
treatment plan. The physician must accept the dose to the surrounding
normal tissues as a function of the prescribed optimum dose to the
tumor. In inverse planning the physician specifies the desired dose to
the tumor volume and to the surrounding sensitive normal structures and
organs. Inverse treatment planning permits the physician to prescribe
the optimum dose to both the tumor volume and the surrounding normal
tissues. Then the NOMOS computer system selects among 500 trillion
combinations of beam intensities, shapes, and angles to tailor the
treatment to achieve the prescribed doses. MIMiC, the unique multi-leaf
collimator (MLC) of the NOMOS Peacock system, a device designed
specifically for IMRT, modulates the intensity of the radiation beam as
the beam moves in an arc around the patient. Thousands of pencil-size
beams focus precisely on the tumor target. Normal tissues and structures
are largely avoided.
While other multi-leaf collimator
systems have been developed, only the NOMOS Peacock MIMiC (MLC) is
capable of the dynamic arc technique and the associated great precision
that has been described. The NOMOS Peacock IMRT system will be
operational at Finger Lakes Radiation Oncology in May of 2000.
Web Link Click
for more
information on IMRT .
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