• Trilogy

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Trilogy

How Trilogy Works

Trilogy is built around an advanced medical linear accelerator, a machine that rotates 360 degrees around the patient to deliver radiotherapy treatments from many angles.

The Trilogy accelerator has been enhanced for stereotactic applications, which means it delivers higher doses of radiation to smaller areas over a shorter period of time.

Trilogy incorporates sophisticated technology for shaping the radiation beam so that the dose of radiation is limited to the tumor region. By changing the beam shape over time while delivering the radiation, doctors achieve very fine control over how, and where, the radiation is administered.

Trilogy incorporates a number of technologies for positioning patients accurately, including:

• RapidArc technology, developed by University of Maryland radiologic physics experts, that allows for fast and efficient arc therapy to be delivered in multiple planes with a single 360-degree rotation of the machine around the patient.
  
  
• A special X-ray imager that is used to check the patient's position prior to treatment and to monitor the position of the targeted area during treatment. This on-board imager can take CT-like images throughout the treatment session, tracking the movement of the tumor with each breath the patient takes.
  
  
• An optical guidance system with infrared cameras that continuously monitor the patient's position to provide therapists with real-time feedback about any changes in a patient's position. Immediate adjustments can be made to the remote-controlled treatment couch to maintain the patient in the preferred position.
  
  
• Respiratory gating technology that coordinates treatment with respiration, to compensate for tumor motion due to the patient's breathing.

This page was last updated on: June 24, 2009.

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