| The discoveries of x-rays and radiation by scientists | | | | The biggest hurdle to develop better radiation |
| Becquerel and Rontgen in the late 1800s got the ball | | | | therapy hardware was to avoid affecting the healthy |
| rolling in radiation application. Marie Curie's Nobel Prize | | | | cells as much as possible. The tumor had to be |
| winning work with radioactive elements also helped | | | | targeted better and the charged particles needed to |
| set the stage at the turn of the century. | | | | basically stay in line of the tumor's shape. |
| Scientists and doctors, out of happenstance, | | | | The computer age helped enable a three dimensional |
| discovered that radiation regressed or slowed some | | | | x-ray look at a tumor. Coupled with the mapping |
| tumors according to some studies on record. They | | | | means of new internal scanning technology and |
| were ignorant of the specific reasons why, but the | | | | radiotherapy, the Intensity-modulated radiation |
| first radiation oncologists cured, from historical record, | | | | therapy or IMRT machine came to fruition. |
| the first cancer case in 1898. | | | | The IMRT uses the mapping information from what |
| They were mostly cures of superficial cancers and | | | | is called Computed Tomography (CT) scans. This |
| the reoccurrence of tumors in treated patients were | | | | produces a 3-D image of the tumor. The image data |
| high due to the unrefined nature of the radiation | | | | is then fed into the x-ray beam linac system to |
| application methods and the massive doses or | | | | target the contours of the tumor. |
| radiation given. | | | | A recent specific form of IMRT is the TomoTherapy |
| Through the late thirties until after World War II | | | | system, which is a commercial patented process that |
| some hardware advances were made to help propel | | | | uses the CT guided IMRT technology which can |
| charged particles through a vacuum tunnel called a | | | | direct the radiation source spiraling around the patient. |
| linac, or linear accelerator. This was used to make a | | | | This makes the 3-D contours of a tumor more easily |
| more concentrated penetrable means to send x-rays | | | | traced by the beam from the linac. |
| to cancerous areas deeper in the body while not | | | | TomoTherapy is quite new, having just started its |
| affecting the skin as much. | | | | first clinical use in 2003. |
| Two scientists from Stanford, Dr. Henry Kaplan and | | | | The latest advancement in scanning technology within |
| Edward Ginzton, worked together to bring this up to | | | | the radiation therapy world is a system called Image |
| a standard where it could be used in a clinical setting. | | | | Guided Radiation Treatment. The IGRT machine is a |
| By 1960 the work done by these two researchers | | | | delivery system that uses dynamic CT images of the |
| spawned the first publically launched rotational | | | | body that actually compensates for any movement |
| radiotherapy linac called the "Clinac 6." | | | | the tumor may have. |
| By the time the Clinac 6 came out in the early 1960s, | | | | The big problem with scanning and targeting tumors |
| a radiation oncologist had a high powered x-ray | | | | is that the target moves within the body. The IGRT |
| delivery machine system. However, the accuracy of | | | | technology compensates for degrees of movement |
| locating the tumor and directing the charged particles | | | | to make targeting the tumor much more accurate. |
| still had a ways to go. | | | | This is the bleeding edge of radiation therapy today. |
| Modern Hardware Advances | | | | |