Allows modulation of the intensity of each radiation beam, so that each field may have one or more areas of high intensity radiation and any number of lower intensity areas within the same field, allowing for greater control of the dose distribution at the target site.
Allows for conformed therapy when treating different volumes by altering beam intensities using multilevel beam collimators.
Non-uniform delivery results in sharper dose falloff, allowing higher doses to the tumor and lower doses to surrounding tissues and permitting targeting of irregular contoured volumes.
Computer-driven enhancement of 3-D technique that allows improvement in rates of cancer control and reduces the risk of adverse effects.
Delivers highly conformal doses while sparing surrounding normal structures.
Contours target volumes and normal tissue that needs to be spared with establishment of a set of dose constraints for each target and normal tissue volume calculated by a computer algorithm.
Two-tangential fields by IMRT significantly reduces contralateral breast radiation compared with conventional tangential techniques.
Associated with decreased morbidity compared to 3D radiotherapy.
A large population based cohort study, found that IMRT for prostate cancer was not associated with an increased risk of second primary cancers, either solid or hematologic (Pithadia K).