Targets that move
Lung and liver tumours move with breathing; prostate position shifts with bladder and bowel filling. Daily imaging tracks and corrects for this motion.
Treatments
IGRT checks the target
IGRT checks the target
before every session.
Image-Guided Radiation Therapy means imaging you on the treatment couch — before every single fraction — and correcting your position to the millimetre before the beam switches on. It is the quality system that makes precision radiation possible.
±1mmPositioning verification
EveryFraction imaged before delivery
100%Of AARO courses are image-guided
Image · placeholderOn-board cone-beam CT imaging on the linac
Image · placeholderTherapists reviewing daily verification images at the console
IGRT · What it is
Image guidance, in plain language.
Tumours move. Organs shift day to day with breathing, digestion, and bladder or bowel filling — and a plan built on last week's scan needs confirming against today's anatomy. IGRT solves this by imaging you on the treatment couch, in the treatment position, immediately before delivery.
The on-board imaging system — typically a cone-beam CT built into the linac — captures your internal anatomy in seconds. The software matches it against your planning scan, calculates the shift, and the robotic couch corrects your position automatically, usually to within a millimetre.
Because the target is verified daily, the safety margins drawn around the tumour can be tighter. Tighter margins mean less healthy tissue in the high-dose region — which is what makes techniques like SBRT and SRS safe to deliver at all. At AARO, image guidance is not an optional extra; it is standard on every course we deliver.
Image-Guided RT · Who is it for
Cancers and situations where Image-Guided RT can help.
IGRT is not a standalone treatment — it is the guidance layer underneath every precision technique we offer. It matters most in these situations.
Targets near critical structures
Spine, brain and head & neck treatments where a few millimetres separate the tumour from the cord, brainstem or optic nerves.
High-dose, few-fraction courses
SRS and SBRT concentrate the entire dose into a handful of sessions — so each one must be delivered exactly on target. IGRT makes that verifiable.
IGRT · How it works
Image, match, correct, treat.
The IGRT loop runs before every fraction of every course — a few minutes that underwrite the accuracy of everything that follows.
Image · placeholderPlanning CT reference images on the review console
Reference imaging
Your planning CT is the reference map. The tumour and organs-at-risk contoured on it define exactly where dose should and shouldn't go.
Image · placeholderCone-beam CT acquisition arm rotating around the patient
Daily on-couch imaging
Once you're set up, the linac's imaging arm rotates around you and acquires a cone-beam CT — about 30–60 seconds, at a low imaging dose.
Image · placeholderImage fusion overlay — daily anatomy matched to plan
Automatic match & correction
Software fuses today's image with the reference plan and computes the exact shift. The six-degree-of-freedom couch corrects position automatically.
Image · placeholderBeam-on indicator during treatment delivery
Verified delivery
Only once the match is confirmed does treatment begin. If anatomy has changed meaningfully — weight loss, tumour shrinkage — the team flags the plan for adaptation.
IGRT · What to expect
A few quiet minutes, every visit.
From your side, IGRT adds a short, silent imaging step at the start of each session. You lie still on the couch, the imaging arm rotates around you once, and then there may be a small movement as the couch fine-tunes your position. That's it.
The imaging dose is a small fraction of the treatment dose and is accounted for in your plan. There are no injections or contrast agents for routine verification imaging.
What you gain is invisible but significant: every fraction of your course is delivered to today's anatomy, not an assumption — with tighter margins and less dose to the healthy tissue around the target.
Image · placeholderPatient on the treatment couch during daily setup imaging
Image-Guided RT · Cost & insurance
Is Image-Guided RT covered?
Image guidance is built into the cost of a radiotherapy course at AARO rather than billed as a separate treatment, and radiotherapy is claimable under Medisave, MediShield Life and major Integrated Shield Plans for approved indications.
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
IGRT · Your specialists
Meet Dr Daniel Tan→
Who delivers image-guided treatment at AARO.
Every AARO radiation oncologist treats with daily image guidance as standard — supported by the radiation therapists and medical physicists who run and verify the imaging match at every session.
Dr Daniel TanSRS · SBRT · Brain · Spine · Oligomets
Dr Jonathan TehProstate · Breast · Gynaecological
Dr Michelle TsengLung · Thoracic · Head & Neck
Dr David TanGU · Prostate
Want to understand how your treatment stays on target?
Book a consultation. We'll walk you through how image guidance protects the healthy tissue around your specific tumour site.