It is actually very difficult to design an accurate and safe therapeutic margin around a moving bronchogenic carcinoma using conventional radiotherapy technique, as tumors move along a sometimes variable and unpredictable path during the respiratory cycle (9). Conventional radiotherapy produces a static therapeutic volume, while in fact; the target lesion is dynamic, moving throughout the entire treatment, sometimes by several centimeters.
Respiratory Tumor Motion
Written by Donald B. Fuller, M.D. – Radiation Oncologist