The Medical Imaging and Technology Alliance (MITA) announced on Monday an internally developed standard to improve the safety of radiation therapy treatment.

The standard is meant to guide radiation therapy manufacturers to improve treatment planning and delivery techniques.

"Publication of this standard will improve targeting accuracy and reduce normal tissue irradiation so patients can reap the benefits of this treatment without the risk of damaging adjacent healthy tissue," said Gail Rodriguez, executive director of MITA.
The standard, called the RT-1 Gating Interface Standard, will provide manufacturers with information to synchronize radiation therapy equipment with the patient's breathing and other movements during treatment, according to a statement from MITA. This type of motion will be monitored so much so that if it's outside of the predetermined bounds, a signal will be set off.

"The RT-1 standard defines specific technical 'fail safe' provisions used to interface devices from various manufacturers to accomplish this. It provides clinicians with a broad range of choices in the technology they can utilize in treating their patients with these advanced techniques in a safe and effective manner," said the statement.

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