| When cancerous tumors appear, the best thing to do | | | | never located near healthy or vital tissue, then IMRT |
| with them is to destroy the tumor and any | | | | wouldn’t be necessary. However, since tumors |
| cancerous residue. Killing the cancer is not difficult. | | | | tend to come with curves and often are very close |
| The problem is that the methods used to kill the | | | | to tissue that one doesn’t want to damage, the |
| cancer also kill healthy tissue. The trick then becomes | | | | IMRT plays a significant role in lessening damage to |
| killing the cancer whilst sparing the patient. | | | | surrounding healthy tissue. |
| Radiation beams that are often used to treat | | | | Thanks to computer-controlled radiation shields, |
| malignant tumors can be very narrowly focused, | | | | uniquely-shaped radiation fields can be delivered from |
| minimizing damage to healthy tissue. However, | | | | various angles and approaches. The result is an ability |
| targeting a tumor with such precision as to not | | | | to create concave shaped radiation fields, conforming |
| damage any surrounding tissue simply isn’t | | | | to the shape of the tumor, allowing higher doses of |
| possible at this time. However, advances in medical | | | | radiation to be delivered while sparing healthy tissue. |
| technology over the last decade has improved | | | | IMRT is especially useful for smaller tumors that are |
| targeting, resulting in higher success rates and quicker | | | | stationary and surrounded by large amounts of |
| recovery times. | | | | healthy tissue or are located very near critical |
| One of the most significant recent advancements in | | | | structures. These can include tumors in the brain, |
| cancer treatment is Intensity Modulated Radiation | | | | head and neck, prostate, or spinal cord. |
| Therapy, or IMRT. If tumors were square and were | | | | |