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TomoTherapy® Treatment

TomoTherapy
For patient profiles, visit: www.tomotherapy.com/patient/

The TomoTherapy® Difference...

The Department of Radiation Oncology at SUNY Upstate Medical University/University Hospital is pleased to introduce an advanced radiation therapy system that revolves-literally-around the patient.

The TomoTherapy system refines radiation delivery to patients with cancer by customizing the daily treatments according to individual anatomy. TomoTherapy is a high quality CT image-guided radiation therapy (IGRT) and intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) delivery system, which can deliver radiation beams in a 360-degree fashion - precisely delivering radiation to a cancerous tumor while sparing the normal healthy tissue around it.
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"The addition of TomoTherapy is a great complement to Upstate Cancer Center's radiation and radiosurgery technology, which includes standard IMRT, KV IGRT, 4DCT, Calypso GPS, respiratory gating, HDR and LDR brachytherapy and Gamma Knife" explained Radiation Oncology Chair, Dr. Jeffrey Bogart. "We looked at several options and concluded that this technology is most advantageous and unique; essentially this is the advanced technology that best serves our patients."
"We anticipate that this new therapy will benefit patients whose cancers are not optimal to treat with conventional LINAC-based technology due to the location or position of the tumor" Dr. Bogart said. In fact, the most impressive thing about Tomotherapy is that the more challenging the case-the greater the benefit from using this technology."
"By combining extremely precise delivery patterns and image guidance, our system optimizes the tools of radiation therapy, while simplifying the process for the patient. We're very excited to be the first center in Central New York to offer this advanced radiation treatment."

Refined Daily

  • The TomoTherapy treatment system resembles a CT scanner, because it is a CT scanner. It captures 3D images of every patient, every day, allowing clinicians to ensure appropriate targeting of the tumor while shielding normal structures. The quality of CT images captured with Tomotherapy is superior to linear accelerators using cone-beam CT.
  • These daily images are used throughout the course of treatment, to monitor the patient's tumor and nearby normal tissues, in real time. Because tumor size and shape can change from day to day, the radiation dose distribution can be altered to adapt to the tumor response.

Highly Conformal

  • During treatment, a thin beam is rotated around the body, entering from many directions, while the couch simultaneously moves through the machine. This results in thousands of little beamlets (a single beam of radiation divided into many smaller beamlets) of different intensities entering the body, converging on the tumor.
  • TomoTherapy can treat large or small tumors, single or multiple tumors, one region of the body or several regions, to the same dosage in every area or to multiple dosages.

TomoTherapy treatments are painless - the experience is similar to having a CT-scan or x-ray taken. A typical course of treatment involves Monday through Friday sessions of about 20 minutes each.

Optimal for Many Types of Cancer

TomoTherapy is ideal for treating cancers of the prostate, head and neck, brain, spine, pancreas cancer and certain areas of the lung. TomoTherapy delivers radiation with such precision, even tumors on or near critical structures can potentially be treated while minimizing the risk of damage to healthy tissue or organs. TomoTherapy enables such finely tuned dose delivery that even many tumors in previously irradiated areas can be treated. The system also enables stereotactic radiosurgery and stereotactic body radiation therapy for patients who are candidates for this type of treatment.

Benefits of TomoTherapy:

  • Extreme Flexibility-Targets large, small and multiple lesions
  • Thousands of rotating beamlets allow for precise delivery of treatment
  • Facilitated Adaptive Therapy-the ability to change the treatment plan based on changes in tumor size or shape during treatment
  • Locates tumors before each treatment to ensure accuracy
  • Minimizes radiation to surrounding healthy tissue

Only at Upstate

In the past decade, the TomoTherapy system has been embraced by more than 100 cancer centers worldwide. In Central New York, only University Hospital offers the TomoTherapy system.

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