Maximizing Treatment Efficacy in Radiotherapy with SDX^® Technology

The SDX^® Respiratory Gating System is used in radiation therapy to improve the accuracy, safety, and quality of radiation treatment for tumors affected by respiratory motion. Radiotherapy with SDX^® and breath-hold techniques allows physicians to safely and precisely target tumors while simultaneously preserving healthy tissue and reducing chances of motion-related challenges normally associated with the treatment of thoracic and abdominal tumors.

Many radiation oncologists and medical physicists recognize the challenges of treating tumors susceptible to movement due to respiration, including those located in the liver, lungs, pancreas, esophagus, breast, and upper abdomen. Accuracy, precision, targeted approach; SDX^® System is a game-changer in the field of radiotherapy and is at the forefront of innovation in spirometry-based respiratory gating technology for radiation therapy.

Improving Patient Radiotherapy Outcomes with Precision and Safety

Early forms of respiratory gating involved tracking a patient’s normal respiratory cycle with a chest/abdomen marker and infrared camera, designed to trigger the machine to deliver radiation only when the tumor is in the treatment field. Managing motion during radiation has historically created obstacles for many clinicians and diagnosticians. While radiation therapy (RT) is very effective at treating various cancers, RT for breast cancer, for example, is more difficult with the presence of intrafractional motion due to patient respiration.

Continuing the example, incidental radiation to surrounding organs such as the heart and lungs can increase the risk of future lung cancer and heart disease and increase the risk of mortality for patients with left-sided breast cancer.

But there are things you can do to ensure the most precise and targeted treatment possible for patients, no matter which type of cancer they have.

As a clinician, are you doing everything you can to manage motion for targets that move with respiration?

Are you ensuring that:

• Target position is reproducible in every treatment session?
• Dose distribution is homogenous throughout target volume?
• PTV margin is as tight as reasonably possible?
• Normal tissue around moving target volumes is being spared?

Customer experience in radiotherapy with the SDX^® System has shown that approximately 85% of patients selected for a treatment combining deep-inspiration breath-hold (DIBH) and SDX can perform.

The study discussed above concluded that the breath-hold technique reduces the irradiated volume, resulting in clinically significant reductions in organs at risk (OAR) doses. Through the mitigation of tumor motion, the breath-hold technique offers reproducible target coverage and OAR doses. This reduces motion-related uncertainties typically associated with treating thoracic and abdominal tumors while optimizing intensity-modulated proton therapy (IMPT) delivery.

Understanding Respiratory Gating in Radiotherapy: Basics and Benefits

When administering treatment during radiotherapy with SDX^®, the patient breathes through a mouthpiece attached to a spirometer, which is a device that measures the amount of air flowing in and out of the lungs. Wearing video glasses, the patient can visualize their breathing cycle. With practice, most patients can hold their breath at a predefined volume for 30 seconds. During this 30-second timeframe, doctors deliver radiation to the patient. Afterward, the patient can resume normal breathing. Studies have shown that when patients hold their breath at a precise air volume, the tumor inside the body remains fixed in the same position day after day for each treatment session.

Many benefits of respiratory gating achieve the same goal of improving the accuracy and effectiveness of radiation treatment. These include:

• Condensed treatment schedules: Because X-ray beams are more narrowly targeted with this technology, physicians can deliver a higher dosage of radiation within fewer sessions.
• Minimal effect on healthy tissue: Physicians usually have to deliver radiation to the entire area through which the tumor passes. With respiratory gating, they can minimize exposure to the surrounding healthy tissue and precisely focus the X-ray beams on a moving tumor.
• More comfort and convenience: Before the implementation of spirometry-based gating technologies such as SDX, patients were required to hold their breath consistently during treatment administration. This process was challenging for patients with lung cancer or other respiratory conditions, and performing repeatable breath-holds over the entire treatment course was nearly impossible. Bio-visual feedback to the patient provided by the SDX video glasses coupled with breath control training has been shown to be more tolerable and enables patients to comfortably perform consistent, repeatable breath holds.

Do More for Your Patients in Radiotherapy with SDX^®

As the most effective and precise way to achieve reproducible positioning for lung, breast, and other thoracoabdominal lesions, SDX is the only voluntary breath-hold system to couple direct lung volume measurement with clear bio-visual feedback. Accuracy is at the heart of SDX, giving patients real-time breathing control information during imaging and treatment.

In short, DIBH is very effective at stabilizing the tumor and surrounding anatomy. There is something better that you could be doing for your patients: it’s SDX. Take DIBH a step further and ensure target position reproducibility time after time with SDX.

Contact SDX^®

The future is here. Get in touch with us today to learn how radiotherapy with SDX^® System can transform patient care through advanced respiratory gating technology. SDX significantly and instantly improves the accuracy, safety, and quality of radiation therapy for the liver, breast, lung, or any tumor affected by respiratory motion. Contact us at (833) 739-3967 in North Miami Beach, FL, or fill out our online form for more information.