Posts Tagged ‘Linac’
Elekta Virtual Clinic 2.0
The Elekta Virtual Clinic offers an easy way to explore how our solutions can help support healthcare professionals to provide the best possible care for patients.
Elekta Virtual Clinic
Elekta Virtual Clinic - Radiation therapy
Elekta Virtual Clinic - Medical Oncology
Elekta Virtual Clinic - Neuro Surgery
Elekta Virtual Clinic - Gamma Knife Surgery
Elekta Virtual Clinic
Generation V – Capable of reducing treatment times and enhancing conformality, the next-of-breed IMRT known as VMAT has radiation oncologists beaming.
Imagine a newly diagnosed prostate cancer patient lying on a table in a darkened room, about to undergo intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT). Besides eyeing the linear accelerator anxiously and pondering the side effects radiation might induce (secondary tumors?), he’s also feeling intense pressure to urinate. You made him fill his bladder to lift his reproductive organs out of the way of the beam’s target area-his prostate. But he must ignore that pressure and lie perfectly still. Moving a few millimeters too much could make or break his cure.
Elekta VMAT
In conventional static-field IMRT, that patient must lie prone for five, eight, 10 minutes as you maneuver the linac around him. You deliver a treatment dose; stop and reposition the machine; deliver another dose; stop and reposition the machine; deliver another dose, and so on.
Imagine achieving the same effect in just two or three minutes via the push of a button as your linac rotates around the patient in one or more arcs with the radiation continuously on. As it rotates, the system automatically varies the multileaf collimator (MLC) aperture shape, dose rate, gantry rotation speed and MLC orientation to deliver maximum doses while sparing normal tissue. That’s the promise of volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT)-essentially, moving IMRT.
“Instead of covering something from seven angles, you have an infinite number of angles,” says William Bodner, MD, a radiation oncologist at Montefiore Medical Center who has used VMAT since March. “Ten to 15 years ago, we were thinking in terms of static fields and large lead blocks. Now we track these tumors as the machine rotates around, adjusting the shape of the beam. It’s beyond comprehension.”
View the entire article @ http://imaging-radiation-oncology.advanceweb.com/Archives/Article-Archives/Generation-V.aspx
More information can also be found @ http://www.elekta.com/vmat
Radiotherapy, the treatment of cancer with radiation, is a very important element of curative treatment for cancer, and is also important for maintaining and/or improving patients’ quality of life. It is anticipated that it will retain a key role in cancer treatment for the next 10-20 years and will continue to make a significant contribution to improved treatment and palliative outcomes.
Radiotherapy owes its pre-eminent position in the treatment of cancer to its ability to deliver, with precision, a lethal radiation dose to each cancer cell situated within a chosen area of the body. The main aim of treatment is to give a sufficient radiation dose to the tumor to cause destruction without producing unacceptable damage to surrounding normal tissue. The higher the differential between the dose to the tumor and that received by the normal tissue, the better the chance of a cure. This high differential hinges on the precision with which the size and position of the tumor can be ascertained and, equally importantly, on the accuracy with which the required dose of radiation can be delivered to the chosen site. Radiation can be delivered in a variety of ways, depending on the nature of the cancer. The most commonly used method is called external beam therapy, which directs high energy X-ray radiation at the tumor. Although the radiation affects both cancer and normal cells, because of the nature of the cancer cells it has a greater effect on them. Treatment aimed at cure will give the highest possible dose of radiation, within safe limits, to attempt to kill all the cancer cells. Sometimes smaller doses are used, where the aim is to reduce the size of a tumor and/or relieve symptoms. Radiotherapy treatment is given using either a machine called a linear accelerator or, for some skin tumors, a superficial X-ray unit. To receive the radiotherapy, the patient lies on a couch under the machine, and is asked to remain still during the actual treatment. Every course of radiotherapy treatment is designed to suit the particular needs of the person receiving it, so prior to treatment the patient will make a preliminary visit to the hospital for the course of treatment planned. A typical treatment will last six weeks, with the patient visiting the hospital every day.
The Elekta Synergy with VMAT Animation
A linear accelerator produces abeam of either electrons or very high energy X-rays. The radiation beam can be shaped and directed to match the tumor shape. The beam of radiation is directed on to the patient within an accuracy of 2mm. This is achieved by a combination of:
• control and shaping of the X-ray beam
• accurate patient positioning with respect to the X-ray beam.
Shaping of the beam can be achieved in three ways:
• use of the primary and secondary collimators. These are large tungsten blocks which can shape the X-ray beam into the appropriate square shape
• custom blocks – these are cast blocks which are specifically for an individual patient to shield sensitive tissue or structures and can be made to the exact shape
• Multileaf Collimator (MLC) – these are fine leaves (usually1cm wide) that are computer-controlled to match the shape of the tumor. Use of MLC is now common practice in many countries.
MLC Animation
The patient is positioned on a treatment table that can be moved in three linear planes as well as up to two rotational planes.
Treatment Table
The linear accelerator can rotate about the patient allowing the beam to be delivered from several different positions. This results in a higher exposure to the tumor tissue compared to surrounding healthy tissue.
New cancer care center to start treating patients in November Linear accelerator installed at medical office in El Portal Plaza on G Street.
Lesion – Localized pathological change in a bodily organ or tissue.
Leukemia – Cancer of the blood. White blood cells may be produced in excessive amounts and are unable to work properly which weakens the immune system.
Linear accelerator (Linac) – A medical device, that can rotate about the patient, that generates various energies of x-rays and electron beams for radiation therapy treatment. more info on linacs…
Localization – In stereotaxy the determination of the precise position of the target in terms of the stereotactic coordinates
Lymph vessels – Vessels which collect fluid left in the tissues together with protein.
Lymphoma – Lymphoma is a general term for cancers that develop in the lymphatic system. They account for about 4 percent of all cases of cancer in this country. The most common type of lymphoma is called Hodgkin’s disease. All other lymphomas are grouped together and are called non-Hodgkin’s lymphomas.
As Energy consumption is fast becoming an issue with many clinics, clinic administrators are seeking to cut costs and minimize power consumption, or alternatively are increasingly coming under pressure from regulatory bodies to reduce carbon emissions.
The good news is that all Elekta dual energy linear accelerators use approximately 30% less energy than typical klystron-based dual energy machines.
Elekta linear accelerators minimize energy consumption and are designed to be careful with resources
This graph shows total energy usage for a duty cycle of five days per week, running eight hours per day in the ready state and 400 beam hours per year (figures calculated from published power consumption data – does not include the use of any imaging devices or networking systems).It is the design of the Elekta digital accelerator which helps to optimize power consumption and minimize cost of ownership over the lifetime of the linear accelerator.
Elekta linear accelerators use a magnetron to create the RF pulse at all energies. Magnetrons, due to their simpler modulator requirements, have lower energy consumption than the klystrons used to generate high energy RF in typical high energy machines. In addition, the Elekta linear accelerator is designed to run at lower temperatures. Other commercially available linear accelerators need to run at high standby power 24/7 levels to maintain their stability, thereby continuing to consume high levels of power. The consequence of running at higher temperatures is that you pay twice; firstly for the high power consumption of the linear accelerator and secondly for the air conditioning required to cool the excess heat generated by power-hungry machines.
- Largest Neurosurgical Center in Russia Acquires Elekta’s Leksell Gamma Knife Perfexion February 6, 2012Russia’s first Leksell Gamma Knife® Perfexion™ system has found a home at the renowned N.N. Burdenko Neurosurgical Institute, just a five-minute car ride from Moscow’s Red Square. On June 2, 2011, a 59-year-old woman was the first Perfexion patient, receiving Gamma Knife® radiosurgery to treat tumor tissue that remained following open surgery. Now, eight mon […]
- Largest Neurosurgical Center in Russia Acquires Elekta’s Leksell Gamma Knife Perfexion February 6, 2012N.N. Burdenko Neurosurgical Institute improves treatment of patients with multiple metastasesRead more... […]
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