Tomotherapy ( TomoTherapy Hi-Art System ™ ) is the most recent and
sophisticated technology for radiation treatment using external beams. It
has been developed at Madison University (Wisconsin, USA) and it is now
operating in twenty-five Medical Centers in Canada and United States.
The equipment installed at San
Raffaele Hospital is the first one not only in Europe but also outside
Canada and United States. The installation began in July 2004 and first
treatments were carried out in November 2004 setting up new clinical
protocols. At San Raffaele Hospital the System is connected to a PET/CT
scanner ( in order to obtain accurate volumes to be treated ) and to
adequate techniques to check patient’s position and organ respiratory
movement, thus setting up a system which is unique of its kind (
Metabolically Guided Tomotherapy ). Compared to conventional treatments (
conformal 3-D or serial IMRT ) where 60-70 Gy doses are usually
administered in 30-35 treatment fractions, this system, due to the helical
intensity modulation of the dose ( helical IMRT ), allows a much more
selective irradiation of cancer and a sparing of healthy tissues, together
with the possibility of delivering higher doses in a number of fractions
definitely reduced ( 1-15 fractions according to type of treatment ).
Metabolically Guided Tomotherapy may be considered one of the most recent
and sophisticated technology for the execution of high–precision radiation
treatment .
