August 28, 2008 – Patients made an estimated 24.5 million radiation therapy or related visits to 2,110 U.S. radiation oncology sites in 2007, approximately a 5 percent increase over 23.2 million visits in 2006, reported IMV Medical Information Division in a recent study.
The top three cancer site types include prostate, breast and lung cancer, which account for 21 percent, 20 percent and 13 percent, respectively, of all cancer site types treated using radiation therapy.
“While the number of patients treated with radiation therapy every year is relatively stable, the technological sophistication of radiation oncology departments is continuing to advance. Digital imaging has become integrated into treatment planning and to guide tumor treatment real-time,” observed Lorna Young, senior director, Market Research. “Over half of the radiation oncology sites provide treatments using image-guided radiotherapy (IGRT), up from 15 percent of the sites in 2004, using either a dedicated IGRT imaging device or electronic portal imaging. Ultrasound, X-ray and CT are the primary imaging modalities used in IGRT.”
The report also found that nearly all (97 percent) of the radiation therapy treatment plans use CT images, 11 percent use MRI and 11 percent use PET images; and CT simulators comprised over 90 percent of the simulators installed in 2007.
The study also reported that intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) has been adopted by 87 percent of the radiation oncology sites. Plus, sites having budgets of $1.5 million have increased from 15 percent of 2003 capital budgets to 32 percent of 2008 budgets.
The data source for this report is IMV’s 2006/07 Radiation Oncology Census Database, which provides profiles of radiation oncology sites in the U.S.
Source: IMV Medical Information Division
For more information: www.imvinfo.com
May 02, 2024 
