IMRT - Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy or "Beam me up, Scotty"

Starting to do some research on the next phase, and finding some more new terms, new information, old information new to me, and more.  And in the midst of all that finding more information about steps that seem to be fading into the past.

But first, I finally found the specific Cesium isotope that is in the seeds I had implanted on Dec. 10th: Cesium-131, which I know, is just thrilling. I'm trying to contain myself.  Really.  But, as silly as it sounds, finding this specific information is a bit of a thrill.  It's relatively new, having been approved by the FDA in 2003, and the first implants were done using it in October 2004.  The link goes to the IsoRay site - the company who developed the process for using Cesium-131.

As for IMRT, I did some research on it over the weekend and am convinced that the theory I've read so far seems to make sense. There's a good, if a bit dated (2004), research paper on the Prostate Cancer Research Institute pages - a long read, but worth the time.

I think I mentioned that the next immediate step is to do some scans (scheduled for Wednesday) to map out exact location of the prostate.  You'd think they'd know by now, wouldn't you? I know I think that. And I must have had a look that said that when I talked to my doctor last week, so he explained that things move around a bit.  And this technique is extremely accurate so they want to make sure they're targeting all the right stuff, and not hitting much surrounding tissue.  The research paper above shows some fascinating data and maybe I can be forgiven for stealing one of their graphics for illustration purposes.  A bit tough to see maybe, but it's a map of the radiation to the prostate (in the center) that encroaches on the rectum only minimally, as well as other surrounding tissue.  The usability part of me finds it incredible that in the screen above "right" is on the left side, and "left" is on the right side. Hello?  It's a computer program...

And there's more...

I learned about what a collimator is with respect to their use in radiation therapy. Briefly, it's a device that makes sure the radiation beam is focused properly.  It's needed because the wavelengths of the radiation are so short they're hard to focus.  I know... this post is just a thrill a minute.  Hey... it's totally a gearhead thing.  And going along with that, here's a picture of an actual collimator (from an article on external beam radiation therapy on medscape.com), not just the conceptual diagram.

So, what they'll do is build a computer model of where things are, then a program to drive the beams to be focused on the prostate and some specific target areas, while avoiding exposure to tissue that doesn't need to be radiated.  Oh, and they'll make a kind of form that I'll get strapped into so I don't move during the treatment. And that makes me think of another question for the doctor: Do I need to give up riding the bike during this next phase for fear of getting things a bit out of line?  I mean, I don't want the bike seat moving things around if this technique is accurate to the millimeter.  Or do they just locate the gold markers they slipped in during the seed implants and adjust on the fly? Something to find out.

In the process of doing this reading on IMRT I was once again disappointed in web site design that provides obviously dated information about these therapies but their pages provide absolutely no date information.  So, instead of helping, they add noise, chew up valuable time (because I don't scan, I read... which is slow), and really, are for the most part counter to the mission of the sites themselves. I understand costs associated with updating information, but it would help me in a big way if a date posted or article date:mmddyyyy kind of approach would be included on these sites.  I know... this is my problem because I'm not using the right search criteria or options. Oh right.

And now I'm wondering where the beam me up bit was supposed to come in? Well, I lost sight of that little splash of fun in this.  Maybe I threw it in shamelessly as a hook. I'm sure it worked.  Oh right.