Healthy Tissue Saved During Radiotherapy By Innovative Concept

Main Category: Radiology / Nuclear Medicine
Also Included In: MRI / PET / Ultrasound;  Cancer / Oncology
Article Date: 15 Oct 2008 - 2:00 PST

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Small body movements that occur while breathing are enough to cause unnecessary damage to healthy tissue when treating cancerous tumours with radiotherapy, but a unique solution has been invented by a QUT professor.

Queensland University of Technology physics lecturer Professor Christian Langton, a specialist in ultrasound, was awarded first place for his concept in the bluebox Ideas Competition run by QUT's commercialisation company bluebox.

Professor Langton said a method for the precise application of radiation was in great demand.

"One of the hot topics in cancer treatment at the moment is tumour movement," he said.

"When a person is about to undergo radiotherapy treatment, their body is scanned to ensure that radiation is sent to the points in their body where cancerous tumours exist.

"However, body tissues move during treatment with simple bodily functions like breathing, bladder filling and bowel gas movement, which can move tumours away from the radiation and cause damage to the healthy tissue while leaving parts of the tumours untreated."

Professor Langton has formulated a method for radiation delivery that uses dynamic ultrasound imaging which he anticipates could negate the problem of tissue movement.

He was awarded $10,000 from the bluebox Ideas Competition to help commercialise the concept, tentatively named QUDOS, Quantitative Ultrasound Dynamic Oncology System.

"I have invented a robotically-controlled ultrasound system to monitor the movements of the body throughout the treatment," he said.

"If the tumour moves then the therapy would be appropriately modified in line with the original prescription of radiation."

Professor Langton said that recent advances in radiation technology had resulted in higher doses being delivered to smaller tissue volumes, increasing the risk to healthy tissue if the body moved during treatment.

QUDOS is under development and on track for a clinical prototype to undergo hospital trials in about two year's time.

Queensland University of Technology
http://www.qut.edu.au