"Treatment delivery time after patient setup was less than five minutes versus 20 minutes for dynamic conformal arc radiosurgery," says Dr. Lagerwaard. "We found that RapidArc planning was completed within 30 minutes in all cases."

His team found that the RapidArc plans consistently achieved greater conformity and a reduction in areas of low-dose irradiation compared to conventional radiosurgery. "This, together with the benefits of shorter treatment times, allows us to replace our conventional five-arc radiosurgery technique for vestibular schwannomas with RapidArc," added Dr. Lagerwaard.

RapidArc delivers a precise and efficient treatment in single or multiple arcs of the treatment machine around the patient and makes it possible to deliver image-guided intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) two to eight times faster than is possible with conventional IMRT. Faster treatments allow for greater precision, since there is less chance of patient or tumor movement during treatment delivery and, with less time on the treatment couch, also allow for greater patient comfort.

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source: Medical News Today