Comprehensive Cancer Care Services

Services | Radiation Therapy| Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT)

IMRT is an advanced form of 3D conformal radiation therapy that is able to shape or conform radiation beams to the size, shape and location of a tumor while minimizing the impact on surrounding normal tissue or organs. IMRT delivers varying intensities of radiation within each treatment field. The intensity is varied by the placement of “leaves”, which either block or allow the passage of radiation. Typically 5 to 10 beams from multiple directions are delivered. By combining these non-uniform beams it may be possible to deliver dose distributions that more closely match the shape and volume of the tumor. The physician along with a team of dosimetrists and physicists utilize a powerful computer program that optimizes a treatment plan based on the physician’s dose instructions, and information about tumor size, shape and location in the body. A medical linear accelerator, equipped with a special device called a multileaf collimator that shapes the radiation beam, delivers the radiation in accordance with the treatment plan. The most common sites treated with IMRT include prostate, mouth and throat.