Respiratory gating makes it possible to track movement of a patient’s chest as they breathe using Active Breathing Coordinator or ABC.  Breathing can be monitored with CT scans for treatment planning as well as during the radiation treatment sessions.  This allows the doctor to select the optimum moment in a patient’s breathing cycle to administer the radiation.  As a result, the area around the tumor exposed to radiation can be reduced and the total dosage increased without harming surrounding healthy tissue.

Respiratory gating may also be helpful in treating tumors of the left breast, which partly covers the heart.  In cases where the heart is close to the chest wall, respiratory gating helps avoid heart tissue and prevent related side effects.  OakWood Center’s radiation oncologist, Dr. Stephen Milito, is using Elekta’s Active Breathing Coordinator™ during radiation therapy.  This allows an even more precise treatment to patients.

Upper abdominal cancers (such as pancreatic, stomach, and liver tumors which also move as patients breathe), can be treated with respiratory gating.  With these cancers, traditional techniques required large radiation fields and, in combination with chemotherapy, led to significant complication rates.  Respiratory gating allows for more normal tissue to be spared, allowing for increased doses and fewer complications.