Radiotherapy Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Radiotherapy, including details on cancer treatment, side effects.

Radiation shielding design of a new tomotherapy facility.

Zacarias A, Balog J, Mills M

Department of Radiation Oncology, Brown Cancer Center, University of Louisville, 529 South Jackson Street, Louisville, KY 40202, USA. zac@louisville.edu

It is expected that intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) and image guided radiation therapy (IGRT) will replace a large portion of radiation therapy treatments currently performed with conventional MLC-based 3D conformal techniques. IGRT may become the standard of treatment in the future for prostate and head and neck cancer. Many established facilities may convert existing vaults to perform this treatment method using new or upgraded equipment. In the future, more facilities undoubtedly will be considering de novo designs for their treatment vaults. A reevaluation of the design principles used in conventional vault design is of benefit to those considering this approach with a new tomotherapy facility. This is made more imperative as the design of the TomoTherapy system is unique in several aspects and does not fit well into the formalism of NCRP 49 for a conventional linear accelerator.

Published 12 September 2006 in Health Phys, 91(4): 289-95.
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