Services and Treatments
Respiratory gating treats cancerous tumors with a high dose of radiation while sparing healthy tissue, and is one of the latest advancements in radiation oncology available at Montefiore Einstein Center for Cancer Care (MECCC). This technology synchronizes precise doses of radiation with the patient's own respiratory cycle so that radiation is delivered only when the tumor is in the treatment field.
Respiratory gating is used to treat adult lung, liver, pancreatic and stomach cancers. When you breathe, internal organs can move as much as several centimeters causing tumors to move in and out of the radiation treatment field. Using the CAT-guided 4D image simulation (CAT plus motion), our doctors can build a model of your internal anatomy.
Montefiore Medical Center's radiation oncologists and physicists use the model to pinpoint the location of the tumor. Once the location is established, our doctors determine the treatment objectives and review many care options to calculate the optimal arrangement and dose of radiation beams.
Currently, respiratory gating is offered at Montefiore's Center for Radiation Therapy at the East Campus. A new state of the art system is scheduled to be installed at the West Campus. This system will have stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS), or high intensity, targeted radiation capabilities and also will combine RapidArc™ technology with respiratory gating.
Respiratory Gating Team
The Radiation Oncology physicians and faculty team is directed by Radiology Oncology Department Chairman and Professor of Radiation Oncology, Shalom Kalnicki, MD.
Montefiore's physics staff is led by Dennis Mah, PhD, Director of Medical Physics, who is widely known for his motion management and tumor positioning research and expertise.
Linda Hong, PhD, Senior Physicist has vast experience in computer algorithms and proton beam therapy for optimizing radiation planning. She leads our stereotactic radiation physics program and our physics clinical trials. Her research focuses on devising innovative radiation treatment-planning algorithms and procedures.