Fla. hospital deploys image-guided RT system
Baptist Health has installed the AccuBoost system for use in radiation treatment following breast cancer surgery.
The AccuBoost system provides a boost dose of radiation to targeted tissue following breast cancer surgery. Typically, early stage breast cancer is treated with radiation following a lumpectomy to remove the cancerous tissue. The traditional radiation method provides one dose to the entire breast and gives a boost dose to tissue adjacent to the area where cancer was removed, where disease is most likely to reappear.
Recent randomized trials report that providing a boost dose of radiation reduces the recurrence rate by an additional one-third, according to Jacksonville, Fla.-based Baptist Health. “The problem that AccuBoost addresses is how to provide a boost dose if the targeted tissue is deep within the breast or located along the chest wall,” said Sonja Schoeppel, MD, chief of radiation oncology at Baptist Medical Center.
With AccuBoost, the physician uses mammogram images to target only the tissue around the lumpectomy site, without providing unnecessary radiation to other healthy tissue. AccuBoost conforms the dose to the shape and location of the targeted tissue, and digital mapping can correct the boost dose during the procedure.
The AccuBoost system provides a boost dose of radiation to targeted tissue following breast cancer surgery. Typically, early stage breast cancer is treated with radiation following a lumpectomy to remove the cancerous tissue. The traditional radiation method provides one dose to the entire breast and gives a boost dose to tissue adjacent to the area where cancer was removed, where disease is most likely to reappear.
Recent randomized trials report that providing a boost dose of radiation reduces the recurrence rate by an additional one-third, according to Jacksonville, Fla.-based Baptist Health. “The problem that AccuBoost addresses is how to provide a boost dose if the targeted tissue is deep within the breast or located along the chest wall,” said Sonja Schoeppel, MD, chief of radiation oncology at Baptist Medical Center.
With AccuBoost, the physician uses mammogram images to target only the tissue around the lumpectomy site, without providing unnecessary radiation to other healthy tissue. AccuBoost conforms the dose to the shape and location of the targeted tissue, and digital mapping can correct the boost dose during the procedure.