Although we know that radiation can be an extremely effective treatment for cancer of the prostate, because the gland is situated between the bladder and rectum, which have varying levels of fluid at any given time, it can be rather elusive, shifting its position as many as seven to 10 millimeters per day. Until now, we have not been able to address this challenge, leading to a fairly high incidence of trauma to healthy adjacent tissue during radiation therapy. Cancer of the prostate is the most commonly diagnosed malignancy in men and the second leading cause of cancer death. Each year, more than 180,000 men are diagnosed with the disease and 40,000 die from it.
Radiation therapy is a method of treating cancer using x-rays or other sources of radioactivity.
As radiation passes through cancerous tissue, it destroys or slows the development of malignant cells. Utilized in medicine for many years, ultrasonography is a safe, painless process in which sound waves are used to create images of the anatomy. Once a patient is on the linear accelerator table, BAT is used to compare the prostate s current position to the position established during the most recent computer mapping process. If a variation in the prostate s position is found, adjustments can be made to ensure an accurate delivery. Over the past decade, computer technology has been developed that allows radiation oncologists to not only perform three dimensional reconstruction of a cancerous tumor and its surrounding anatomy but also conduct treatment simulations to determine the optimum level of radiation that can administered at each segment of the tumor without penetrating healthy tissue.