E-Paper
Precision at the core: How KD Cancer Centre is expanding Radiotherapy with MONACO® Treatment Planning
KD Cancer Centre utilises MONACO® for precise cancer treatment planning, ensuring innovative and personalised approaches.
A treatment planning technology for presicion-focused cancer care
In radiation oncology, every treatment begins long before a patient enters the treatment room. Behind every radiotherapy session is a treatment plan that determines how radiation will be delivered to destroy cancer cells while protecting healthy tissues and critical organs.
At KD Cancer Centre, MONACO® is used as part of the treatment planning process, to design personalised treatment plans with accuracy and safety.
The science behind the plan
While radiotherapy involves directing radiation toward a tumour, it also considers that every patient's anatomy is unique, and uses a tailored approach for every type of cancer.
Before treatment begins, the centre’s medical physicists work with radiation oncologists to analyse imaging studies and calculate how radiation will interact with different tissues throughout the body using treatment planning software.
The goal is to:
- Deliver the prescribed dose accurately to the tumour
- Protect nearby healthy organs and tissues
- Minimise treatment-related side effects
- Maximise treatment effectiveness
This planning process is crucial in modern cancer treatment, and the quality of the treatment plan directly influences treatment outcomes.
How does MONACO® work?
MONACO® is a treatment planning system (TPS) powered by Monte Carlo Dose Calculation Technology.
Monte Carlo is known to be reputable in radiation dose calculation as it simulates how millions of radiation particles travel through the body and interact with tissues of different densities.
Monte Carlo Technology models radiation behaviour while taking into account:
- Differences between bone, soft tissue, and air-filled structures
- Complex tissue interfaces
- Small treatment targets
- Highly conformal treatment techniques
- Challenging anatomical regions
This level of accuracy helps clinicians to better predict how radiation will be delivered within the body, helping ensure that the planned dose closely matches the dose received by the patient.
Planning for every modality
At KD Cancer Centre, MONACO® supports multiple radiotherapy techniques, ensuring that every treatment plan is optimised to the standards of precision and quality.
IMRT (Intensity-Modulated Radiotherapy)
Shapes radiation beams to conform closely to the tumour while minimising dose to surrounding healthy tissues.
VMAT (Volumetric Modulated Arc Therapy)
Delivers treatment efficiently as the machine rotates around the patient, continuously adjusting dose rate, gantry speed, and beam shape for conformal treatment delivery.
SRS (Stereotactic Radiosurgery)
Delivers very high radiation doses with sub-millimetre precision to small targets, often in a single treatment session.
SRT (Stereotactic Radiotherapy)
A fractionated version of stereotactic treatment that delivers the same high level of precision over multiple treatment sessions when clinically appropriate.
SBRT (Stereotactic Body Radiotherapy)
Applies stereotactic precision to tumours located elsewhere in the body, including the lung, liver, spine, pancreas, and prostate, allowing highly targeted treatment while minimising radiation exposure to surrounding organs.
Across these modalities, MONACO®'s optimisation engine works to achieve abalance between effective tumour coverage and healthy tissue protection.
Quality assurance: Precision verified
Every treatment plan at the centre undergoes a review before it is approved for treatment. Medical physicists evaluate aspects of the plan, including:
- Target coverage
- Dose distribution
- Protection of organs at risk
- Treatment deliverability
- Machine-specific accuracy
In addition, patient-specific quality assurance (QA) procedures are performed to verify that the treatment machine will deliver radiation exactly as intended.
These verifications compare the calculated dose distribution with actual physical measurements obtained usingdosimetric equipment, ensuring agreement within clinical tolerances.
Radiation safety officers further support this process by ensuring compliance with radiation safety standards, quality assurance protocols, and standard practices in patient protection.
This approach reflects a principle at KD Cancer Centre: technology delivers its greatest value when combined with human oversight.
Why this matters for patients
The centre's commitment to treatment planning provides:
- More accurate tumor targeting
- Reduced risk of geographical miss
- Better protection of healthy tissues and organs
- Lower likelihood of treatment-related side effects
- Greater confidence in treatment delivery through independent plan verification
Whether a patient is receiving a highly complex VMAT treatment for a head and neck cancer or a hypofractionated SBRT course for an early-stage lung lesion, the same standard of planning precision and quality assurance applies to every case.
The centre's commitment
The adoption of MONACO®, supported by a dedicated team of radiation oncologists, medical physicists, radiation therapists, and radiation safety professionals, reflects the centre's approach to radiotherapy planning and treatment delivery.
By combining Monte Carlo-based treatment planning, quality assurance processes, and multidisciplinary expertise, the centre aims to deliver radiotherapy with precision and safety.
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