Radiation Therapy Patient Visits Up About Five Percent

A new report from IMV Medical Information Division in Des Plaines, Ill., says that in 2007 radiation therapy-related patient visits totaled 24.5 million, compared to 23.2 million in 2006. The 2007 visits took place at 2,110 U.S. radiation oncology sites.

IMV also reports that the technological sophistication of radiation oncology departments continues to advance. Digital imaging now is a big part of treatment planning and real-time treatment. The report shows that more than one-half of radiation oncology sites deliver treatment using image-guided radiation therapy (IGRT), a 15 percent increase over 2004. Nearly all sites (97 percent) use CT images for treatment planning. Of simulators installed in 2007, more than 90 percent were CT simulators.

Intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) has been adopted by 87 percent of radiation oncology sites as of 2007, the report states. The top three cancer types treated by radiation oncology sites were prostate, breast and lung cancer.

The full report describes trends in adoption of therapeutic techniques, equipment and radioactive agents. It's available from IMV's Web site.