The medical fraternity in India may soon have the facility to simulate the lung motion of cancer patients to help deliver focused radiation in the upper abdomen or thoracic region. A group of Indian scientists have developed a novel and inexpensive 3D robotic motion phantom that can reproduce the lung motion of a human during breathing. Breathing motion is a hurdle for delivering focused radiation dose to the cancer tumour attached to upper abdomen area. The motion exposes an area larger than the tumour to radiation during cancer treatment, thus affecting tissues surrounding the targeted tumour. The phantom is placed inside a CT scanner on the bed in place of the human, and it emulates human lung motion as it is irradiated during therapy.

Source: Hindustan Times July 19, 2021 12:45 UTC