TOMOTHERAPY :
TREATMENT
Tomotherapy provides quite an articulate
work-up that can be briefly divided into the following phases.
Once the
Patient has asked for a consultation, he/she undergoes the first visit so
that Radiation Oncologists and Nuclear Medicine Clinicians can verify that
necessary requirements are met in order to include Patient in a specific
Protocol.
When
Patient has been recruited, he/she undergoes a PET/CT scan that is useful
for staging (to verify cancer
extent), definition of treatment volumes and sparing healthy tissues during
Tomotherapy. PET/CT scan is
performed with particular devices for patient positioning together with
breathing control techniques, that will be reproduced during treatment.
Tomotherapy treatment plan is then calculated and dosimetric controls are
carried out (that is to check the accordance between the distributions of
calculated dose and of the actually distributed one). During real
treatment, each fraction is preceded by a MVCT scan in order to check
correct position of Patient. At the end of treatment, follow-up phase
begins that consists of recurrent checks to monitor disease response and any
late side effects arising from Tomotherapy.