Palliative treatment
Fast, effective symptom relief — painful bone metastases, bleeding, or airway compression — where treatment needs to start quickly and simply.
Treatments
3D Conformal RT shapes
3D Conformal RT shapes
each beam to the tumour.
3D Conformal Radiation Therapy plans treatment on a CT scan of your actual anatomy, then shapes each radiation beam to the outline of the tumour from several angles — a proven, reliable technique that remains the right tool for selected cases.
CTPlanned on your 3D anatomy
3–6Shaped beams, typically
10–30Sessions, depending on indication
Image · placeholderMulti-leaf collimator shaping a treatment beam
Image · placeholderBeam's-eye-view of a shaped field on the planning system
3DCRT · What it is
Conformal radiation, in plain language.
3D conformal radiotherapy was the technique that moved radiation from flat, rectangular fields to beams shaped around a tumour in three dimensions. Your anatomy is mapped on a planning CT, the tumour and healthy organs are contoured, and a set of beams — typically three to six, from different angles — is shaped to match the target's outline using the linac's multi-leaf collimator.
Where the beams overlap, dose accumulates in the tumour; each individual beam path through healthy tissue carries only a share of the total. It is simpler than IMRT or VMAT, which modulate intensity across each beam, but for suitable targets that simplicity is a feature: plans are robust, quick to produce, and well understood.
At AARO, 3DCRT sits alongside our more advanced platforms. Where a target is large, regular in shape, or not wrapped around a critical structure, 3DCRT can deliver the prescription cleanly — and where it can't, we escalate to VMAT, SBRT or SRS. The technique is chosen to fit the case, never the other way round.
3D Conformal RT · Who is it for
Cancers and situations where 3D Conformal RT can help.
3DCRT remains a workhorse for targets where beam shaping — without intensity modulation — achieves the plan goals.
Regular-shaped targets
Tumours with straightforward geometry away from critical structures, where shaped beams cover the target without complex modulation.
Selected breast & limb treatments
Certain sites where tangential or opposed shaped fields remain a well-proven standard with decades of outcome data.
3DCRT · How it works
Scan, shape, verify, treat.
A 3DCRT course follows the same planning discipline as every AARO treatment — with a simpler, faster planning stage.
Image · placeholderContouring the target volume on the planning CT
Planning CT & contouring
A CT scan in the treatment position. Your oncologist contours the tumour and the healthy organs the beams must respect.
Image · placeholderBeam arrangement view on the planning workstation
Beam arrangement & shaping
The team selects beam angles and shapes each field to the target's outline, balancing coverage against dose to surrounding tissue.
Image · placeholderPhysicist performing plan quality-assurance checks
Plan check & verification
Physics checks verify the dose calculation and machine deliverability before your first session.
Image · placeholderLinac delivering a conformal treatment field
Daily treatment
Each session takes 10–15 minutes, most of it positioning. Imaging verifies your setup, then the shaped beams are delivered from each angle in turn.
3DCRT · What to expect
Short sessions, steady routine.
Treatment is delivered on the same linear accelerators as our advanced techniques. You'll lie on the couch, the therapists position you against your planning reference with verification imaging, and the beams are delivered from each planned angle. You feel nothing during delivery.
Courses typically run daily on weekdays, over two to six weeks depending on the prescription. Palliative courses can be as short as one to ten sessions.
Side effects are site-dependent — commonly fatigue and localised skin reaction — and are usually mild and self-limiting. Your team reviews you weekly through the course and manages anything that arises.
Image · placeholderTherapist positioning a patient for daily treatment
3D Conformal RT · Cost & insurance
Is 3D Conformal RT covered?
3DCRT is generally the most economical external-beam technique, and radiotherapy is claimable under Medisave and MediShield Life for approved indications, and under major Integrated Shield Plans.
We provide a written cost estimate at consultation, before any treatment begins. If you'd like our care coordinator to verify coverage with your insurer in advance, just ask.
Image · placeholderAARO specialists at the Centre for Stereotactic Radiosurgery
3DCRT · Your specialists
Meet Dr Daniel Tan→
Who delivers 3DCRT at AARO.
All AARO radiation oncologists prescribe 3DCRT where it is the right fit for the case — supported by the same physics and therapy team that runs our most advanced platforms.
Dr Daniel TanSRS · SBRT · Brain · Spine · Oligomets
Dr Jonathan TehProstate · Breast · Gynaecological
Dr Michelle TsengLung · Thoracic · Head & Neck
Dr David TanGU · Prostate
Not sure which radiation technique fits your case?
Book a consultation. We'll review your imaging and recommend the simplest technique that fully achieves the treatment goal — and explain why.