Prostate cancer patients weighing radiation therapy options often ask the same question: how long will treatment take, and how precise can it really be? Adaptive radiotherapy at 5D Cancer Services in St. George was built to answer both.
What makes the prostate a unique daily target
The prostate doesn't sit in a fixed spot. Day to day, changes in bladder and rectal fullness can shift its position. Conventional radiation plans are built once, from a single scan, then delivered the same way at every visit regardless of where the prostate has actually moved that day.
How adaptive radiotherapy adjusts for it
5D Cancer Services uses the Akesis Gemini 360 to re-image the treatment area immediately before each session. The plan is then recalculated for that day's anatomy, not the anatomy from the original planning scan. That daily re-imaging and re-planning reflects the Adaptation and Imaging pieces of the clinic's A.I.M. framework: adapting the plan daily, imaging in real time, and tightening margins because the picture is current.
Tighter margins, in practical terms, means less healthy tissue around the prostate, bladder, and rectum is included in the radiation field than a one-time plan would require.
Fewer sessions than conventional radiation
Conventional external-beam radiation for prostate cancer is often delivered over 20 to 45 sessions. Adaptive radiotherapy at 5D Cancer Services is designed to complete treatment in as few as 5 sessions, because the precision of daily re-planning allows a higher, more targeted dose per visit.
Prostate cancer is one of several cancers treated with this approach
5D Cancer Services treats prostate cancer alongside lung cancer, liver and pancreatic cancer, head and neck tumors, brain metastases, oligometastatic disease, and gynecologic cancers, all under the same adaptive, image-guided method.
If you or a family member has been diagnosed with prostate cancer and want to know whether adaptive radiotherapy is an option, call 5D Cancer Services at (435) 900-7060 to schedule a consultation with the treatment team.
Written by Ritchie N. Stevens, M.D., Chief Medical Officer, 5D Cancer Services.