PANAMA CITY, Fla. (WJHG/WECP) – A specialized form of radiation therapy is helping reduce side effects for cancer patients. It’s called Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy, or IMRT. Radiation Oncologist Dr. Hasan Murshed says treatment time and side effects are reduced when using this technique.

“It focuses the radiation beam more accurately and more precisely toward the target,” explains Dr. Murshed.

Patients undergo a CT Scan. That data is put into a supercomputer that helps doctors design a customized treatment plan that shows exactly where the radiation beams should go.

“It can minimize the radiation dose to the skin of the breast cancer patient’s breast surface so we have less skin reaction, less side effects, less pain medication requirement, and they don’t have to break for treatment,” says Dr. Murshed.

IMRT was originally designed for head and neck cancers but is now being used to treat prostate and breast cancers as well.