Advanced Radiotherapy Techniques To Treat Cancer

By 121 News Reporter

Chandigarh 26^th February:-- More than 4000 new cancer cases receive radiotherapy every year in the department of radiotherapy, with almost 300 patients being treated every day.  Radiotherapy has been practiced using conventional techniques for more than 100 years, in which not only the cancer, but also large amount of normal tissues of the body receive the radiation. This technique gave good control of the cancer but was also associated with radiation morbidity as large amount of normal tissue was also included in the radiation field.

With technological advances in the field of radiation using various methods of immobilization, 3-Dimentional Treatment Planning Computer systems and  machines with  multi-leaf collimator, it is possible to use highly sophisticated radiotherapy techniques which deliver high dose to the tumor but with little or no dose to the surrounding  normal tissues, and hence reduce the late radiation morbidity. Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT) is one such technique which has been used in the department for the last more than 10 years.  It has led to increase in the control rate of various cancers and has drastically reduced the late radiation morbidity. Volumetric Modulated Arc Therapy (VMAT) is a special technique of IMRT. The internal organ movements due to respiration or organ filling, between or during a treatment  still remains a problem, as it may move the tumor out of the radiation treatment field due to the tight margins that are taken for treatment planning. There are day to day set-up errors also which can creep in  during the treatment. New techniques are now developed to control these uncertainties using  Image Guided Radiation Therapy (IGRT), where real-time imaging combined with real-time adjustments of the beam are possible.

All these techniques deliver curative radiation over a period of six to eight weeks, which is a long interval and patients have to come every day to the hospital for  the treatment. This increases the economical, emotional and social problems for the patients, hence new techniques are being devised, to reduce the overall treatment time of radiation. Stereotactic Body Radiotherapy (SBRT) is one such new technique in this direction. In SBRT a curative dose of radiation can be delivered over a short period of just one week and hence, it is very comfortable for the patient and the hospital and it can increase the efficiency of the hospital. However, this technique is feasible only in very early stage cancers where radiation volume can be kept to minimum.

 The department of Radiotherapy at PGIMER, Chandigarh is in the process of installing a High Energy Linear Accelerator at the cost of Rs. 25 crores with facilities for IMRT, IGRT, VMAT and SBRT. North of Delhi this will probably be the only facility in a Government Hospital, thereby providing affordable cancer treatment to all those patients who need it. The Department of Radiotherapy at the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education & Research, Chandigarh is organizing a Continuing Medical Education (CME) programme on “Advanced Radiotherapy Techniques – Planning and Delivery of  Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT), Image Guided Radiation Therapy (IGRT), Volumetric Modulated Arc Therapy (VMAT) and Stereotactic Body Radiotherapy (SBRT)” on 1st and 2nd March, 2014. More than 200 delegates from all over India will be attending this CME programme. A highly experienced faculty has been invited from India and abroad to deliver lectures on various aspects of advanced radiotherapy techniques.

The foreign faculty for this CME includes Dr. William Song , Dr. Kim , Dr. APS Sandhu and Dr. Sushil Beriwal from USA who will discuss these new techniques in detail. The Indian faculty includes Dr. S. Hukku, Dr. A. Anand , Dr. Munshi and Dr. T. Ganesh , who are working in different hospitals in Delhi and who will share their Indian experience  of using these techniques. As these treatments require team work delegates for this CME programme are Radiation Oncologist, Medical Physicists & Radiation Technologists.