Image Guided Radiation Therapy (IGRT) utilizes two- and three-dimensional imaging to determine the exact location of cancerous tumors.
During this process, a tumor can be imaged just before the delivery of radiotherapy or during treatment, enabling radiation oncologists to verify the specific area of the mass. This helps to reduce the margin of healthy tissue exposed to radiation to five millimeters and sometimes to as little as one or two millimeters. Radiation beams can be adjusted to specifically target the cancerous area, even if the tumor has shifted only slightly since a patient’s last visit or treatment. This technology, available through SSM Cancer Care, helps radiation treatments to be as targeted as possible, maximizing the treatment effects on cancerous cells while minimizing the damage to the healthy tissue surrounding the area.