Stereotactic body raditherapy (SBRT)

The topic of this bachelor thesis is stereotactic body radiotherapy. SBRT is one of the most modern methods of treating localized tumor lesions. High doses of ionizing radiation and a small number of irradiated fractions are used when it is applicated. It can be implemented on specialized irradiation devices, e.g., on modern linear accelerators (Tomotherapy, True Beam) or on a cybernetic linear accelerator (Cyberknife). It is a non-invasive, short-term and very effective treatment replacing surgery. Intensive image verification of the target volume is necessary for its application, either in form of active monitoring of tumor movement during irradiation, using 4D radiotherapy methods or CT verification. The bachelor thesis is divided into two parts. The theoretical part describes mainly selected facts about ionizing radiation, processes taking place in irradiated tissue, presents the SBRT method, its principles, indications for extracranial stereotaxy, instrumentation, fixation aids and possible side effects and complications of this treatment. The main part of the practical part was to find out the level of awareness of radiological assistants about the principles, variants of indications of extracranial stereotactic radiotherapy. It is implemented in the form of a questionnaire which was filled in by a total of 79 respondents and the results showed that the level of awareness of radiological assistants actively practicing this profession is very good. The second goal of the practical part was to answer the question why the method of extracranial stereotactic radiotherapy is not used more often based on the study of literature. This is due to the lower number of devices on which this irradiation can be performed but also to the condition of a small or medium extent of the disease and partly time-consuming of this technique. Stereotactic body radiotherapy is the most accurate telotherapeutic method of irradiation in oncology. With its non-invasive, patient comfort, excellent application accuracy and very good results it forms the future of radiation therapy