Radiation Therapy to Treat Cancer Anywhere in the Body: In recent years we have all become aware of the six dimensions which include left/right, anterior/posterior, inferior/superior, roll, pitch, and yaw, and with the advent of specialized treatment couches, all these dimensions can be manipulated prior to the start of a treatment.
One could argue that this adjustment only temporarily resolves a concern since motion occurs throughout the treatment process, but what if you could adjust for this motion in real time throughout the treatment? Should motion then be considered a seventh dimension?
Scientist may argue that motion should not be considered a seventh dimension, but rather a phenomenon that occurs within the three spatial dimensions of length, width and height, but what if you were adjusting for motion in all six of the dimensions previously mentioned continually by synchronizing the motion of a target to the motion of breathing thereby moving spatially in all six dimensions in real time? Could you then call this the seventh dimension?
Interesting speculation, but it may be easier just to call it Synchrony®. To paraphrase my favorite television show, Synchrony allows you to boldly go where no man (or radiation Oncologist) has gone before, it provides the ability to treat with submillimeter accuracy to a moving target, not by expanding your margin, or compression or even gating. Even the most recent advancement in online adaptive technology looks at a snapshot in time and does not account for motion throughout the process. Synchrony, simply said, allows you to teach a treatment delivery system to breath along with a patient.
We all know that in general terms, a person with lung cancer often presents due to another pre-existing condition, albeit emphysema, COPD or any number of other conditions that makes breathing an arduous task.
Considering this, the best course of action would seem to be protecting every bronchiole and alveoli from ablating dose you possibly can in order to retain as much lung capacity as possible, and in essence improving the quality of life of your patient.
If you genuinely want to go where no man has gone before, delivering submillimeter accuracy to a moving target with the `warp speed ‘of SBRT, try thinking in another dimension, try using Synchrony.
Please feel free to reach out to me to find out more about how Synchrony makes whole body radiosurgery with absolute precision possible.
The statements on this site are my own and do not represent Accuray opinions or positions.
Bill Vogel: Clinical Sales Director at Accuray
You can also contact the CyberKnife experts at the CyberKnife Center of Miami. This is among the most experienced teams worldwide, which can also make a big difference in your treatment outcome.