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Image-Guided Therapy Pinpoints the Target
Radiation therapy is a proven cancer treatment and is employed to treat fifty percent of all cancer patients. Dr. David Jaffray’s laboratory focuses on the development of imaging systems and concepts that improve the precision of radiation therapy by generating images at the time of therapy that guide the treatment delivery.
This new approach to cancer therapy gives surgeons, radiologists and radiation oncologists a 3-dimensional view of the body during treatment, allowing them to see the exact location of cancerous tissues in real time. Many cancer patients are benefitting from this new approach, which improves survival rates and quality of life.
Before this approach, treatment was accurate within a centimetre, and now a therapist can narrow the affected area down to two or three millimetres.
The new technology uses a form of body imaging called cone-beam computed tomography. Previous technology pictured a 2-dimensional cross-section of an affected area, while the new technology generates 1,024 images at once and provides a real-time 3-dimensional picture of the patient’s interior.
According to Dr. Jaffray, “We can visualize targets and direct treatment in one step.”
This technology reduces the complications of radiation therapy, and also makes the treatment viable for more varieties of the disease. Image-guided radiation therapy is now provided to patients with prostate, brain, spinal and metastatic bone cancers.
Princess Margaret Hospital is a world leader in image-guided therapy. Researchers and doctors from cancer centres around the world come to PMH to learn how to employ this new technology in their facility.
For two years in a row, Dr. Jaffray has been recognized by his industry peers as one of the Top 10 radiation oncologists/cancer researchers. He is also a Caldwell Partner Top 40 Under 40.
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