DeKalb Medical Center is now treating cancer patients with a revolutionary new radiotherapy technique called IMRT (Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy), a highly precise technique that targets tumors while sparing surrounding healthy tissue. The Radiation Oncology Center offers a Varian 21 EX with linear accelerator and multileaf collimator. In addition, the center uses a GE CT simulator and ADAC treatment planning system.

What is IMRT?

Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT) is the most technologically advanced, most precise method of external beam radiation therapy available. It delivers high doses of radiation directly to the tumor while sparing the surrounding healthy tissue. IMRT has been approved to treat the following.

Breast cancer
Prostate cancer
Brain cancer
Hodgkin's Lymphoma
Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma
Bladder cancer
Leukemia
Colon/Rectum cancer
Uterus cancer
Ovarian cancer
Eye cancer
How does it work?

The new IMRT technique has already contributed to substantially improved clinical outcomes, according to studies in the Journal of Radiotherapy and Oncology and the International Journal of Radiotherapy and Oncology. Published prostate cancer studies conducted at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York showed that, when compared with other forms of radiation therapy, IMRT more than doubled the rate of tumor control, from 43 percent to 96 percent. At the same time, the rate of normal tissue complications decreased from 10 percent to 2 percent.

IMRT treatments are delivered using a sophisticated, computer-controlled medical linear accelerator that is equipped with an important beam-shaping accessory called a multileaf collimator. The linear accelerator generates the high-energy X-rays used to treat cancer. DeKalb Medical’s multileaf collimator has 120, movable mechanical "leaves" or "fingers" that shape and size the beam to deliver an exact radiation dose directly to the tumor.

IMRT conforms the radiation beam to the shape of the tumor from any angle while protecting normal adjacent structures, such as the eyes, optic nerve, brain stem, salivary glands, brain, bladder, rectum, small bowels, liver and spinal cord, as much as possible.


Location(s)
• 2701 North Decatur Road, Decatur, GA 30033 404-501-6925