New treatment techniques using a computer-controlled multileaf collimator and treatment couch

In 1983 a completely new network system of radiation therapy was installed in the authors' division. The system consists of a 20-MV LINAC (10-MV x-ray) unit with a set of computer-controlled multileaf collimators, a CT scanning unit, a computer-controlled communal couch, a treatment planning system and a pair of minicomputers that coordinate almost all treatment data. The following new treatment techniques have been developed with the use of the system: (1) dynamic therapy with gearing of the communal couch, (2) multiaxis therapy that does not require manual patient setup, and (3) multiaxial, multitarget conformation therapy. With these techniques, a highly accurate radiation therapy system has evolved that uses a conventional high-energy photon unit