arc therapy
A radiation delivery technique where the treatment beam rotates around the patient during dose delivery.
Full Definition
Arc therapy encompasses radiation delivery techniques that employ continuous or step-and-shoot gantry rotation around the patient while delivering radiation. Modern implementations include Volumetric Modulated Arc Therapy (VMAT) and conventional arc therapy. During arc delivery, the gantry rotates through a specified angular range while simultaneously modulating beam intensity, dose rate, and sometimes multileaf collimator positions. Arc techniques can achieve highly conformal dose distributions while significantly reducing treatment delivery time compared to static field IMRT. The continuous motion requires sophisticated quality assurance procedures and careful consideration of mechanical tolerances.
In Context
- "Arc therapy reduced treatment time from 15 minutes to 3 minutes." — Treatment efficiency report
- "The patient was treated with dual-arc therapy for optimal dose distribution." — Treatment summary