Radiation therapy is a straightforward concept. The objective is to deliver a radiation dose so that it conforms to the disease while avoiding, as much as possible, the surrounding healthy anatomy. As such, we employ tools that allow us to:

• detect and locate the disease within the body
• design a treatment scheme
• deliver daily treatments with excellent precision and accuracy

For the detection of the target, advanced imaging systems are employed. The Radiation Medicine Program uses the following systems to aid detection:

• 2 computed tomography (CT) scanners
• 1 magnetic resonance imager
• 1 CT-equipped single photon emission tomography (SPECT) unit
• 1 CT-equipped positron emission tomography (PET) unit 

These systems provide an accurate estimate of the location of diseased and normal structures within the body. This information is integrated with the use of a treatment planning systems.

In this process, clinicians identify targets and a treatment configuration is designed to deliver the appropriate dose. The process can take from hours to days, depending on the case’s complexity, and can produce thousands of parameters for transfer to the treatment units.

The transfer of parameters is performed using an electronic charting system with dedicated communication channels to each of the 16 medical linear accelerators at PMH. This system has an excellent up time, and is the information superhighway over which each treatment’s information is passed to the treatment unit.

Great care is taken to review the data uploaded to guarantee consistency with the prescribed objective of the therapy. The information is then accessed each time a patient arrives for treatment. Treatment parameters are downloaded to the treatment unit under the careful watch of the radiation therapists and reviewed prior to treatment for additional assurance of treatment quality.

This page was last updated March 10th, 2008 at 5:01pm.