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Patients with blood cancers, such as leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma, who
undergo a bone marrow transplant currently receive both chemotherapy and
full-body radiation to rid the body of cancer cells.
"It is much more comfortable than current methods and provides
uniform radiation treatment."
The radiation treatment, however, is extremely uncomfortable. Patients
must stand up for a long time, draped with heavy back pack-shaped shields that
protect the lungs from radiation emitted by a linear accelerator. The
procedure also requires a very large room, with enough distance between the
patient and the accelerator to project radiation beams uniformly over the
entire body.
"The new treatment method allows patients to lie down rather than stand
up, to be treated in a smaller room, and it avoids potential radiation damage
to the lungs so that patients do not have to wear the heavy lung blocks," said
Bhadrasain Vikram, MD, chairman of the Department of Radiation Oncology at
Montefiore. "It is much more comfortable than current methods and provides
uniform radiation treatment."
In the new radiation treatment system, called "intensity modulated arc
therapy," radiation comes from above the patient in a pendulum-like swing, or
arc beam pattern, controlled by highly sophisticated computers.
John T. Keane, PhD, who developed the treatment system and is the computer
systems manager in the Department of Radiation Oncology at Montefiore,
presented his findings about the new technology at the American Society for
Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology meeting in Boston on Oct. 25, 2000.
Source: Montefiore Medical Center
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