Liver Cancer TomoTherapy^®

TomoTherapy^® for Liver Cancer

TomoTherapy^® Highly Integrated Adaptive Radiotherapy (HI-ART) is an innovative form of intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) available to liver cancer patients at Cancer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA).

TomoTherapy combines an advanced form of IMRT with the accuracy of CT scanning technology, all in one machine. This approach optimizes the delivery of radiation therapy to the liver, treating hard-to-reach tumors, while reducing damage to nearby healthy tissues and minimizing other side effects of radiation therapy.

Before each treatment, a CT scan provides a three-dimensional image of the liver and surrounding area. The CTCA radiation therapy team uses these images to check the size, shape and location of the tumors, which can change over time. This allows us to fine-tune the radiation treatment each time and precisely target the tumor(s), while sparing nearby healthy tissues and organs. During your radiation treatment, we will adjust the direction, intensity and shape of the beams in real time.

TomoTherapy uses a revolutionary “slice therapy” approach, which treats tumors one layer at a time. This means variable amounts of radiation can be delivered to different parts of a tumor. In effect, the beam turns off when it’s entering the body through healthy tissue and turns on when it reaches the tumor. The patented beam-modulating technology divides a single beam into many laser-thin “beamlets,” delivered continuously from 360 degree angles around the body.

TomoTherapy offers several advantages for the treatment of liver cancer:

• Before every treatment, advanced scanning technology provides a 3D image of the liver, so the radiation beams can be targeted according to the size, shape and location of the tumor(s) on that day.
• During treatment, precise, rotating beams of radiation constantly modulate to the size, shape and depth of the tumor. The revolutionary “slice therapy” approach treats tumors one layer at a time.
• After treatment, side effects are minimized because less radiation reaches healthy tissues and organs.

Each TomoTherapy treatment takes about 20 minutes, including roughly 5 minutes for the CT scan, 5 minutes for the radiation treatment itself, and time for set-up.

Many liver cancer patients who have reached their maximum tolerance dose of traditional radiation may be candidates for TomoTherapy. At CTCA, our radiation oncologists and other physicians will work with you to determine if TomoTherapy may be a viable liver cancer radiation therapy option for you.

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