Dr Doan Trang Nguyen
University of Technology Sydney
$449,316
2021 - 2023
The Research
Radiotherapy is an effective treatment for many types of cancer, both on its own and in combination with other treatments. Modern radiotherapy machines are incredibly precise, but their targets are always moving. Even when we lie perfectly still, our bodies are always in motion – we breathe, our hearts beat, our muscles twitch, we swallow and we digest. This means that a cancer tumour is also never perfectly still. To overcome natural movement, standard radiotherapy treatments use a larger radiation beam than is needed to treat the whole tumour. While this approach ensures all parts of the tumour are treated effectively, it also exposes healthy tissue surrounding the tumour to radiation.
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