Tomotherapy – use in radiation treatment in oncological patients

03/2018

Doc. MUDr. Renata Soumarová, Ph.D.; Ing. Pavel Dvořák, Ph.D.;

MUDr. Eva Kindlová; doc. MUDr. Martina Kubecová, Ph.D.

Radioterapeutická a onkologická klinika 3. LF UK a Fakultní nemocnice Královské Vinohrady, Praha

SUMMARY

Tomotherapy is a radiotherapy procedure providing a highly conformal dose distribution that allows critical organs to be investigated and/or a local dose increase in the target volume. The principle of the technique is to place a small megavoltage linear accelerator on a rotating gantry, including the acquisition of a CT verification before each fraction. A similar technology is volumetric modulated arc therapy (so-called VMAT) on a conventional linear accelerator. There are several studies that directly compare volumetric radiotherapy and tomotherapy. The results indicate a generally faster delivery of the dose by VMAT technique, tomotherapy provides a relatively more consistent and homogeneous dose distribution. Tomotherapy is used in the adjuvant, neoadjuvant, radical and palliative treatment of a wide range of diagnoses.

KEY WORDS

tomotherapy, volumetric modulated arc therapy, intensity modulated radiotherapy, image guided radiotherapy