title: [Image-guided radiation therapy. Paradigm change in radiation therapy].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The introduction of image-guided radiotherapy (IGRT) has changed the workflow in radiation oncology more dramatically than any other innovation in the last decades.
  
  
  METHODS
  Imaging for treatment planning before the initiation of the radiotherapy series does not take alterations in patient anatomy and organ movement into account.
  
  
  METHODS
  The principle of IGRT is the temporal and spatial connection of imaging in the treatment position immediately before radiation treatment.
  The actual position and the target position are compared using cone-beam computed tomography (CT) or stereotactic ultrasound.
  
  
  METHODS
  The IGRT procedure allows a reduction of the safety margins and dose to normal tissue without an increase in risk of local recurrence.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In the future the linear treatment chain in radiation oncology will be developed based on the closed-loop feedback principle.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The IGRT procedure is increasingly being used especially for high precision radiotherapy, e.g. for prostate or brain tumors.
authors.affiliation: Klinik für Strahlentherapie und Radioonkologie, Universitätsmedizin Mannheim der Universität Heidelberg, Theodor-Kutzer-Ufer 1-3, 68167 Mannheim. Frederik.wenz@umm.de
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Wenz
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Belka
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Reiser
authors.forename: S O
authors.initials: SO
authors.lastname: Schönberg
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional / Q000639:trends*; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000639:trends*; D016634:Radiosurgery / Q000639:trends*; D061089:Radiotherapy, Image-Guided / Q000639:trends*