MITA announces approval of RT-1 Gating Interface Standard to improve safety and effectiveness of radiation therapy treatment

Washington, D.C. – The Medical Imaging & Technology Alliance (MITA) today announced the approval of the RT-1 Gating Interface Standard to enhance the safety and effectiveness of radiation therapy (RT) treatment.

 “This first-of-its-kind standard will be used by RT manufacturers who have long been committed to improving patient safety,” said Gail Rodriguez, executive director of MITA. “Over the last 20 years, manufacturers have made significant strides in improving RT planning and delivery techniques, enabling increasingly effective therapeutic dose distributions. Publication of this standard will improve targeting accuracy and reduce normal tissue irradiation so patients can reap the benefits of this treatment without the risk of damaging adjacent healthy tissue.”

 The RT-1 Gating Interface Standard, developed by MITA’s RT Section, provides key technical information to developers for synchronizing the RT equipment with the patient’s breathing and other movements during cancer treatment. If movement is outside of the standard’s predetermined window, the appropriate signal will be triggered. This motion monitoring information can be used to improve targeting accuracy through treatment delivery interventions in the event that the target moves away from the planned position. The RT-1 standard defines specific technical ‘fail safe’ provisions used to interface devices from various manufacturers to accomplish this.  It provides clinicians with a broad range of choices in the technology they can utilize in treating their patients with these advanced techniques in a safe and effective manner.

 The MITA RT Section relied on substantive contributions from experts throughout the radiation therapy clinical and technical community, and looks forward to continued collaboration in the review of future standards.

The Medical Imaging & Technology Alliance (MITA), a division of NEMA, is the collective voice of medical imaging equipment, radiation therapy and radiopharmaceutical manufacturers, innovators and product developers. It represents companies whose sales comprise more than 90 percent of the global market for medical imaging technology and radiation therapy. For more information, visit www.medicalimaging.org. Follow MITA on Twitter @MITAToday.