Title: 4D radiation therapy for prostate cancer

Authors: Jin Sheng Li; Chang-Ming Ma

Addresses: Department of Radiation Oncology, Fox Chase Cancer Centre, PA 19111, USA. ' Department of Radiation Oncology, Fox Chase Cancer Centre, PA 19111, USA

Abstract: To further improve the clinical outcome and cost-effectiveness of radiation therapy for prostate patient, dose escalation and hypofractionated treatments are being implemented. Reducing the treatment margin is an essential way to satisfy the requirements for increased doses to the target volume and decreased doses to nearby critical structures, which depends on the patient setup error and internal organ motion effects. New image-guided localisation technologies and 4-dimensional (4D) treatment can improve the setup accuracy and significantly reduce effects of the time-dependent motion. This article discusses the effects of intrafractional motion of prostate and the technologies to perform 4D radiation therapy treatments.

Keywords: 4D radiation therapy; prostate cancer; organ motion; radiation therapy; radiotherapy treatment; dose escalation; hypofractionated treatment; image-guided localisation; medical imaging.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBET.2012.046082

International Journal of Biomedical Engineering and Technology, 2012 Vol.8 No.2/3, pp.138 - 150

Published online: 12 Dec 2014 *

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