Equipment Used in Radiotherapy: Types, Techniques, and Benefits

Running head: EQUIPMENT USED IN RADIOTHERAPY
EQUIPMENT USED IN RADIOTHERAPY
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EQUIPMENT USED IN RADIOTHERAPY
Radiation therapy can be described as one of the most common forms of treatments for
cancer. In this form of treatment, high-energy radiation is seen to be administered within the
body of affected cancerous patients. This helps in shrinking tumors as well as killing the
cancerous cells. Studies have found that this can be a stand-alone treatment or that it can be
commonly applied in combination with chemotherapy, hormone therapy as well as surgery. Half
of the different cancer patients are seen to receive different types of radiation therapy across their
courses of their treatment of cancer (Mittal et al. 2018). It is important for ensuring that the
radiation is able to reach that to the right place during the entire duration of treatment with the
radiation therapy while avoiding all the vital organs like that of the heart. Professionals are seen
to use different varieties of techniques to ensure that the patients are correctly positioned before
and during the treatment. These might be seen to range from the obtaining of the additional X-
Ray images to that of the service users to physically restraining areas of the body. These are
often found to be uncomfortable as well as counter-productive.
Surface guided Radiation therapy or SGRT is a new technique that is now widely utilized
by radiology departments of most healthcare centers. This helps in ensuring that patients are
positioned appropriately before and even during the treatment. Non-ionizing and non-invasive
camera technology of Vision RT helps in tracking the skin and in this way, this SGRT help is in
making sure that the patient is in the intended position (Herron et al. 2018). It helps in ensuring
that the patient is positioned with high level of that of accuracy and often with less concentration
of physical immobilization. This helps in providing both comfort and even safety to the patient.
When the patient is seen to move, radiation can be found to be automatically paused until the
time they are found to be back in the initial as well as the intended position. This equipment can
be well utilized across wide range of cancer types as well as sites.