Surface Guided Radiation Therapy (SGRT) is a tattoo-free alternative for patients who require radiation therapy. It enables accurate and comfortable positioning of the patient which decreases the time spent during treatment and the discomfort experienced by patients on the treatment couch. Surface Guided Radiation Therapy is especially useful during certain breast cancer treatments.
Traditional radiation therapy requires patients to receive very small but permanent tattoos on their skin around the treatment site. These tattoos help the radiation therapist position the patient correctly and deliver treatment to the right location. SGRT uses advanced camera technology to track and monitor patients during set-up and treatment, eliminating the need for permanent tattooing or other temporary markings on the skin.
This technique also provides the radiation therapist with thousands of reference points on a patient’s skin and allows them to precisely track a patient’s movements in real-time during treatment, helping to ensure radiation is delivered safely and to sub-millimetre accuracy. However, patients naturally move during treatment, and this slight movement can be difficult to detect. Safety is further enhanced by the system’s auto-pause feature, which automatically pauses treatment if a patient moves outside of a safe position while treatment is underway.
SGRT treatment sessions are typically shorter than traditional radiation therapy sessions, as the set-up process can be completed more quickly.
AlignRT®
AlignRT® is a technology suite that enables the delivery of tattoo-free SGRT. The system uses advanced camera technology to track the patient’s skin surface in three dimensions during set-up and treatment, making it possible to deliver radiation safely and accurately without the need for permanent tattoos or other temporary markings on the patient’s skin. The system is fully integrated with the linear accelerator (treatment machine), enabling faster set up and shorter treatment times for patients.