A NEW QUALITY OF PRECISION – IMAGE-GUIDED RADIOTHERAPY

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A modern system for positioning and monitoring the patient's position during radiotherapy - AlignRT - has been installed at the Amethyst Radiotherapy Center in Krakow.® (VisionRT). Its use increases the precision and repeatability of patient positioning and enables the maximum safe administration of high doses of radiation when the therapy requires it.

Radiotherapy is an important element of oncological treatment. Its effectiveness depends on the precision of delivering the radiation beam to the site of the cancer lesion while limiting the radiation exposure to healthy tissues and critical organs as much as possible. The latest medical technology that allows for the highest precision is radiotherapy guided by the image of the patient's body surface (SGRT - Surface Guided Radiation Therapy).

Millimeter accuracy

The solution implementing the SGRT technique is the modern AlignRT system® (VisionRT). Thanks to the use of a special computer-integrated camera system that couples the image directly to the accelerator, it is possible to track the patient's position in many dimensions. Position monitoring is carried out both during preparation for radiotherapy and during the delivery of the therapeutic beam itself.

The system uses near-infrared light, which is completely safe for the patient and medical staff. AlignRT®  it projects a speckled pattern onto the patient's body, which is read by HD cameras in 3D, followed by optical scanning of the body and its computer visualization. This image is compared in real time with a reference CT image from the therapy planning process.

Patient safety and comfort

Positioning the patient in the same way during the process of preparing a therapy plan and during the administration of subsequent radiotherapy fractions is a great challenge for radiotherapy technicians who directly coordinate this process. AlignRT®  increases the comfort of both the patient and the staff. The technology is non-invasive and contactless. On the monitor, the technician immediately sees any deviation from the assumed tolerance limits. During radiotherapy, if the patient's position changes, AlignRT® automatically sends a signal to interrupt irradiation.

Image-guided radiotherapy makes it possible to abandon the use of point tattoos and markers.

– Applications of AlignRT® are particularly useful in conducting advanced radiotherapy techniques such as stereotactic radiotherapy and Deep Inspiration Breath Hold radiotherapy (DIBH), when the irradiated area is close to critical organs (head and neck, spinal cord) – says Marcin Hetnał, MD, medical director of the Amethyst Radiotherapy Center.

Deep inhalation irradiation applies to patients with breast cancer. By administering irradiation only during inspiration, the heart and left lung are spared. This reduces the risk of complications that may appear 10 or even more years after the therapy. However, learning the breathing necessary to use this method of radiotherapy can be difficult for patients. Thanks AlignRT® the patient is equipped with a special monitor that visualizes her breathing and signals deviations from the correct rhythm.