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Recent media stories have reported isolated cases of cancer patients who were injured by incorrect doses from intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT). Despite such reports, IMRT remains one the most powerful cancer treatments, and Loyola University Health System employs extensive safety measures to ensure patients receive the proper doses, said radiation oncologist Dr. Kevin Albuquerque. (Loyola was not the subject of a recent New York Times series on radiation injuries.)

IMRT uses computer-controlled linear accelerators to deliver precise radiation doses to a tumor or areas within a tumor. It focuses high doses within the tumor while minimizing the dose to surrounding normal tissue.

At Loyola University Health System, a team of physicians, therapists and physicists does several levels of checking before treating a patient. For example, the team does a trial run on a "phantom patient" with radiation detectors. This ensures the machine is delivering the proper dose of radiation.

Loyola University Health System is one of three hospitals in Illinois, and the only academic medical center, to be accredited by the American College of Radiology. The accreditation assesses the qualifications of personnel, policies and procedures, equipment specifications, quality assurance activities, patient safety and quality of patient care.

Loyola is inspected by the State of Illinois twice a year to ensure the hospital meets state regulations on radiation use. Staff is licensed by the state. And calibrations on linear accelerators are evaluated annually by the Radiological Physics Center.

The Department of Radiation Oncology has a comprehensive quality assurance program that includes tests on equipment and software on a daily, weekly, monthly and annual basis, said John Roeske, PhD, director of physics. These tests are based on state regulations and recommendations from the American Association of Physicists in Medicine.

Treatment plans are created by board-certified dosimetrists and reviewed by physicians, physicists and therapists before and during the course of treatment. (A dosimetrist is a key member of the radiation oncology team who specializes in the use of computers for radiation treatment planning.) Weekly physics checks are performed to ensure the treatment plan is being implemented as intended, and all patient charts are reviewed.

Radiation therapy can cure certain head and neck cancers, lymphomas, cervical cancer, anal cancer and cancer of the vocal cords, thus avoiding surgery.

Albuquerque said that intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) is the one of the most powerful weapons against cancer.

Source: Loyola University Health System

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