Radiation Oncology/IMRT/IMRT Overview

This section is about how intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) works (in brief) and the history of IMRT. More technical aspects of IMRT should be placed in the section Radiation Oncology:IMRT Technical. Clinical results of IMRT should be placed elsewhere. History Timeline of IMRT 1992 - 1994 - proprietary IMRT development at NOMOS (initially named VISUS Medical Devices, then Cognos*centi, then NOMOS) 1994 - NOMOS PEACOCK system (first patient treated in 1994 at The Methodist Hospital, Houston, TX, USA) 1996 - First IMRT treatment with a conventional linac equipped with a multileaf collimator (MLC) NOMOS PEACOCK The introduction of a commercial IMRT system into popular use began with the PEACOCK system produced by the NOMOS Corporation (Pennsylvania, USA). The PEACOCK system consists of the MIMiC, which is a "bolt-on" multileaf collimator, and a dedicated treatment planning system. Treatment with the PEACOCK is described as "serial tomotherapy" in which the treatment is delivered using non-overlapping arcs (thus "tomo" or slice therapy) with couch movement occurring between each arc (thus "serial"). Guidelines Guidelines for the implementation and quality assurance for IMRT. NCI Guidelines on the Use of IMRT in Clinical Trials: (July 25, 2006) "ATC Guidelines for the use of IMRT" - PDF (Jan 14, 2005) "The National Cancer Institute Guidelines for the Use of Intensity-Modulated Radiation Therapy in Clinical Trials" - PDF Advanced Technology Consortium (ATC): 2004 - 15234063 — "Credentialing of institutions for IMRT in clinical trials." Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2004 Jul 15;59(4):1257-9 References Beavis A W. Is tomotherapy the future of IMRT? The British Journal of Radiology 77 (2004), 285-295. (15107318)