Department of Radiation Oncology, MD Anderson Cancer Center Orlando, Orlando, Florida 32806, USA.
J Appl Clin Med Phys. 2011 Nov 15;12(4):3590. doi: 10.1120/jacmp.v12i4.3590.
In the past 10 years, techniques to improve radiotherapy delivery, such as intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT), image-guided radiation therapy (IGRT) for both inter- and intrafraction tumor localization, and hypofractionated delivery techniques such as stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT), have evolved tremendously. This review article focuses on only one part of that evolution, electromagnetic tracking in radiation therapy. Electromagnetic tracking is still a growing technology in radiation oncology and, as such, the clinical applications are limited, the expense is high, and the reimbursement is insufficient to cover these costs. At the same time, current experience with electromagnetic tracking applied to various clinical tumor sites indicates that the potential benefits of electromagnetic tracking could be significant for patients receiving radiation therapy. Daily use of these tracking systems is minimally invasive and delivers no additional ionizing radiation to the patient, and these systems can provide explicit tumor motion data. Although there are a number of technical and fiscal issues that need to be addressed, electromagnetic tracking systems are expected to play a continued role in improving the precision of radiation delivery.
在过去的 10 年中，改进放射治疗的技术得到了飞速发展，如强度调制放射治疗（IMRT）、用于肿瘤内外分次定位的图像引导放射治疗（IGRT）以及立体定向体部放射治疗（SBRT）等分割放射治疗技术。本文仅聚焦于放射治疗发展历程中的一个方面，即电磁跟踪技术。电磁跟踪技术在放射肿瘤学领域仍然是一项不断发展的技术，因此其临床应用受到限制，费用高昂，且报销不足以覆盖这些成本。与此同时，目前电磁跟踪在各种临床肿瘤部位的应用经验表明，电磁跟踪为接受放射治疗的患者带来的潜在益处可能非常显著。这些跟踪系统的日常使用具有微创性，不会给患者带来额外的电离辐射，并且这些系统可以提供明确的肿瘤运动数据。尽管还存在许多需要解决的技术和财务问题，但电磁跟踪系统有望在提高放射治疗的精确性方面继续发挥作用。
