Rationale For IGRT
Radiation therapy is a local treatment that is designed to treat the defined tumour and spare the surrounding normal tissue from receiving doses above specified dose tolerances. There are many factors that may contribute to differences between the planned dose distribution and the delivered dose distribution. One such factor is uncertainty in patient position on the treatment unit. IGRT is a component of the radiation therapy process that incorporates imaging coordinates from the treatment plan to be delivered in order to ensure the patient is properly aligned in the treatment room. (Dawson & Sharpe 2006)
The localization information provided through IGRT approaches can also be used to facilitate robust treatment planning strategies and enable patient modelling, which is beyond the scope of this article.
Read more about this topic: Image-guided Radiation Therapy