Astera Deep Inspiration Breath Hold (DIBH)

DIBH: Minimizing Risk, Optimizing Outcomes

At Astera, we use Deep Inspiration Breath Hold (DIBH) to deliver radiation therapy more safely to tumors near organs that move with breathing, such as the:

• Breast
• Lungs
• Liver
• Pancreas

During this specialized radiation therapy, the patient takes a deep breath to a precise level and holds it while the radiation is delivered.

Protecting Your Heart in Breast Cancer Treatment

We most commonly use DIBH for treatment of women with left-sided breast cancer. With deep inhalation, the lungs fill with air while the heart narrows and moves down away from the chest. This technique has been proven to improve safety by significantly lowering the radiation dose to the heart.

Restricting Motion to Protect Surrounding Organs

For patients with tumors in the lung, liver, or pancreas, DIBH can help minimize the motion of the tumor, allowing our radiation oncologists to better target the tumor while protecting normal healthy organs.

Astera DIBH: What to Expect

Your Astera Radiation Oncology therapy team will coach you to hold your breath for up to 20 seconds at a time. The radiation beam will only engage once you have taken a deep breath in.  This process will be repeated several times during each radiation treatment.

At Astera, we’re proud to offer this treatment at our radiation oncology center in Monroe Township, NJ and at most of our satellite locations.

If you’d like to know more about DIBH at Astera, or to schedule an initial consultation, call 609-757-8653. Or, contact us via our easy online form.