What is respiratory gating?
Gating is a system that tracks a patient’s normal respiratory cycle with an infrared camera and chest/abdomen marker. The system is coordinated to only deliver radiation when the tumor is in the treatment field. What can a patient expect when treated with the RPM respiratory gated system? The patient is first imaged on the CT Simulator while tracking movement of the lightweight chest/abdomen marker with the infrared camera. Images are analyzed using the GE’s 4D software (fourth dimension being time) to accurately determine tumor motion. Without gating, images can be blurry. With a gating system, images are clear and crisp, allowing for more accurate treatment planning. When the patient arrives for treatment, the chest/abdomen marker will be placed in the same location as set for imaging. The infrared camera will track the patient’s breathing cycle as they are allowed to breathe in a relaxed manner. The gating system will automatically detect when to give radiation according to the pati
