Hanoi-based K Hospital has put into operation an IMRT linear accelerator, the most modern piece of radiative cancer treatment equipment in the world, the first of its kind in Southeast Asia.
– Intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) is an advanced mode of high-precision radiotherapy that utilises computer-controlled x-ray accelerators to deliver precise radiation doses to a malignant tumour or specific areas within a tumour.
The radiation dose is designed to conform to the three-dimensional (3-D) shape of the tumour by modulating—or controlling—the intensity of the radiation beam to focus a higher radiation dose on the tumour while minimising radiation exposure to surrounding normal tissues.
Treatment is carefully planned by using 3-D computed tomography (CT) images of the patient in conjunction with computerised dose calculations to determine the dose intensity pattern that will best conform to the tumour shape. Typically, combinations of several intensity-modulated fields coming from different beam directions produce a custom tailored radiation dose that maximises tumour dose while also protecting adjacent normal tissues.
Because the ratio of normal tissue dose to tumour dose is reduced to a minimum with the IMRT approach, higher and more effective radiation doses can safely be delivered to tumours with fewer side effects compared with conventional radiotherapy techniques. IMRT also has the potential to reduce treatment toxicity, even when doses are not increased.
Currently, IMRT is being used to treat cancers of the prostate, head and neck, breast, thyroid and lung, as well as in gynecologic, liver and brain tumours and lymphomas and sarcomas. IMRT is also beneficial for treating pediatric malignancies.
IMRT linear accelerators are now used in the US, France and the UK only. The first Vietnamese patient to be treated with this equipment is a 42-year-old woman from the central province of Thanh Hoa who suffers upper-jaw cancer.
Source: VietNamNet Bridge
