Radiosurgery Viable Option for Treatment of Early-Stage Inoperable Lung Cancer

A new radiotherapy approach enables clinicians to precisely target and rapidly treat tumors using finely shaped high-energy X-ray beams.

Varian Medical Systems (Palo Alto, CA, USA) presented the radiosurgery technologies for treating early-stage inoperable lung cancer and other conditions noninvasively May 2012 at the 2012 International Conference of the American Thoracic Society (ATS) in San Francisco (CA, USA).

“We’re excited about putting our technology in front of pulmonologists who may not be familiar with radiosurgery as a treatment option for early-stage, inoperable lung cancer,” said Calvin Huntzinger, MS, senior director of surgical sciences at Varian. “Research has been accruing to show that radiosurgery can be a viable option for these patients. In addition, a major NCI [US National Cancer Institute]-funded study is under way to see if that viability extends to high-risk operable stage I lung cancer patients.”

Varian exhibited RapidArc radiosurgery on its TrueBeam STx system at the meeting. Clinicians who are getting early proficiency in the clinical use of RapidArc radiosurgery application are reporting that this approach can be performed rapidly and effectively in the treatment of many thoracic tumors.

The TrueBeam STx system was constructed to enable precise, efficient treatment, two to eight times faster than other radiosurgery machines. A high-definition multileaf collimator shapes the dose so that it closely matches the shape of the targeted tumor to minimize exposure of delicate healthy lung tissues and of other nearby organs, such as the heart or spinal cord.

“Radiosurgery procedures in the body have been made possible by a fairly recent convergence of technological innovations that enable precise beam shaping, real-time image guidance, and motion management,” said Robert Timmerman, MD, professor of radiation oncology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (Dallas, TX, USA). Dr. Timmerman spoke at the conference on the role of stereotactic body radiation therapy in the treatment of lung cancer.

“Radiosurgery for lung cancer, which historically has been very difficult to treat, is of growing interest to the members of the American Thoracic Society, as evidenced by the rapid growth of its section on thoracic oncology,” Dr. Huntzinger said. “Since last year, the section went from 230 to 505 members, more than doubling in size. We’re delighted to see the heightened interest in thoracic oncology because we want clinicians to know how high precision radiosurgery can be used to treat patients who would have had few or no treatment options before.”

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