Particularly for radiotherapy in the chest area (bronchial and breast carcinomas), the respiratory movement of the region to be irradiated must be taken into account when planning the radiotherapy.
This is achieved by selecting safety margins that are large enough to prevent the tumour from moving out of the radiation fields during irradiation due to breathing.
As a consequence, however, larger parts of the healthy lung or heart are sometimes also irradiated. With respiration-triggered radiotherapy (gating), a CT scan is performed during the radiotherapy planning phase, which images the entire respiratory cycle.
During radiotherapy planning, the breathing phases that are most favourable for radiotherapy can then be selected. Radiotherapy is then only carried out during the breathing phases in which the tumour is in a certain position.
This technique allows the safety margins for radiotherapy to be reduced, thus protecting the healthy lungs and heart in particular.
Contact information
How you can reach us