"We believe Perspecta could have a significant impact on a physician's ability to review a treatment plan for radiotherapy," said Dr. James Chu, professor and director of medical physics for the department of radiation oncology. "Compared to a standard two dimensional display, the true 3D image enables physicians to work more precisely and efficiently."
The effectiveness of radiation therapy depends on the medical team's ability to concentrate high radiation doses to the tumors while minimizing the doses to surrounding critical organs. Currently, oncologists have to look at hundreds of digital imaging slices, one at a time, to determine where the dose is hitting.
With the Perspecta, the radiation dose distribution can be superimposed over the 3D patient image. The images can be viewed and manipulated from any vantage point around the 360-degree dome, by any number of users.
While demonstrating the new technology, Dr. Chu pointed to an example of a tumor highlighted in green and the radiation dose highlighted in orange. When looking at the image from the front it appeared the radiation was fully covering the tumor, but as the viewer walks around the dome, it is apparent the back of the tumor is sticking out beyond the orange field.
"This shows us immediately that we aren't giving adequate coverage and helps us focus in very quickly on the region where we must do more planning," said C
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Contact: Kim Waterman
Kimberly_Waterman@rush.edu
312-942-7820
Rush University Medical Center
28-Apr-2005