Breast Cancer Campaign: Breast Cancer Research Funding to Establish Effectiveness of Radiotherapy

LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Scientists are closer to discovering why some people respond to breast cancer radiotherapy better than others, according to Breast Cancer Campaign.

Dr Laura Smith, at the Leeds Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Leeds, has been awarded a pilot grant by Breast Cancer Campaign, to study why some types of breast cancers are difficult to destroy with radiotherapy.

The grant forms part of £2 million awarded to 20 projects in the UK and Ireland.

Previous research has shown that breast cancer cells which are difficult to destroy with radiotherapy contained reduced amounts of molecules called GRP78, PSMD9 and DARS.

Dr Smith and her team aim to find out what role these molecules play in preventing radiotherapy from working in breast cancer.

Dr Smith said, “We are grateful for this funding from Breast Cancer Campaign which we hope will lead to a way to predict how successful treatment will be in people with different types of breast cancer.”

Arlene Wilkie, Director of Research and Policy, Breast Cancer Campaign said, “This research could lead to a simple test to establish the effectiveness of radiotherapy prior to treatment. Radiotherapy is not suitable for everyone with breast cancer and this would ensure that only those who will benefit from the treatment will receive it.”
source: Business Wire

Rare Pancreatic Cancer Patients May Live Longer When Treated With Radiation Therapy

Radiation therapy is effective in achieving local control and palliation in patients with pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (PNTs), despite such tumors being commonly considered resistant to radiation therapy, according to a largest of its kind study in the November 15 issue of the International Journal of Radiation Oncology Biology Physics, the official journal of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO).

PNT is a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that can stay confined to the liver and often cause death from liver damage. Since it is usually unable to be removed by surgery, external beam radiation therapy (EBRT) is an attractive option for managing the disease, but the role of EBRT is largely unknown because of the low incidence of this tumor type and, as a result, very few related studies.

Researchers at the departments of radiation oncology and internal medicine, division of hematology/oncology and comprehensive cancer center biostatistics unit at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Mich., sought to determine if PNTs are not as resistant to radiation therapy as was previously thought.

source: ASTRO

Cancer Treatment Centers of America will be First in Country to Offer New Technology from Italy

Philadelphia, Pa. – A radiation breakthrough to treat breast cancer patients in one day, as opposed to the current average of six weeks, has arrived at Cancer Treatment Centers of America® (CTCA) in Philadelphia. CTCA will become the first in the country to offer this treatment option using the Novac7 technology from Rome, Italy.

Intraoperative Radiation Therapy (IORT) technology allows patients to receive radiation treatment, delivered with the same power and precision as other advanced radiation techniques, while still in the operating room undergoing surgery, often without any additional outpatient radiation treatment visits, and with fewer side effects. IORT also offers patients better cosmetic results and improved quality of life as the need for additional radiation treatment is minimized or eliminated altogether.

“Women in Italy have had access to the therapeutic and quality of life benefits of IORT for years, but until this point, traditional breast cancer treatments in the United States involved surgery followed by 5-6 weeks of radiation or chemotherapy,” said Director of Radiation Oncology Pablo Lavagnini, MD. “Sadly many women don’t have access to radiation treatments and those who do are left struggling to juggle a demanding treatment regimen with work and family obligations at home. IORT offers a possible solution.”

source:Cancer Treatment Centers of Amwerica

Scientific Presentations at 2009 ASTRO Meeting Highlight RapidArc® Radiotherapy Technology from Varian Medical Systems

Chicago, IL — November 10, 2009 — Clinicians using RapidArc® radiotherapy technology for fast, precise, non-invasive cancer treatments have found that they are able to substantially reduce scatter dose to surrounding healthy tissues, according to several presentations and posters presented this week at the annual meeting of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) in Chicago. With RapidArc, doctors were able to quickly administer image-guided radiotherapy or radiosurgery treatments using fewer monitor units, which translates to less total body irradiation during treatment. In addition, a number of planning studies documented the clinical advantages of RapidArc over other forms of intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT).

ASTRO is the largest association of radiation oncology professionals in the world, with 10,000 members, including radiation oncologists, radiation oncology nurses, medical physicists, radiation therapists, dosimetrists and biologists. The 2009 meeting was held in Chicago, Illinois, from November 1-5.

source: Varian

Advances in Radiation Therapy Enable Doctors to Improve the Quality of Treatments for Patients With Head and Neck Cancer

PALO ALTO, Calif., Nov. 13 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Clinical studies suggest that advanced treatments like intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) and image-guided radiotherapy (IGRT) are enabling radiation oncologists to enhance post-treatment health-related quality of life for patients with head and neck cancer.

In an educational session for radiotherapy professionals, delivered by two noted experts during the annual meeting of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) in Chicago last week, Avraham Eisbruch, M.D., professor at the University of Michigan, discussed how careful implementation of IMRT in the treatment of head and neck cancer can achieve high tumor control rates while minimizing xerostomia, a dry mouth condition that occurs when salivary glands are damaged.

Citing a new report summarizing results from RTOG 0022, a multi-institutional study comparing IMRT with earlier forms of treatment for head and neck cancer, Dr. Eisbruch said that IMRT for head and neck cancer achieved important goals in reducing treatment toxicity, notably xerostomia, and in yielding a high tumor control rate of 90%.(1)

For patients enrolled in the study and treated with IMRT, only 55% experienced Grade 2 or worse xerostomia at six months after treatment, as compared with 84% of patients treated with earlier forms of radiotherapy -- a reduction of 35%. For the IMRT group, the percentage of patients with Grade 2 or worse xerostomia decreased steadily, to 25% at 12 months and 16% at 24 months. "This kind of improvement over time is not something we had been seeing with conventional forms of radiotherapy,(2)" said Dr. Eisbruch, who served as chair of RTOG 0022.

source: PR Newswire

Researchers from UC Irvine Medical Center Find Clinical Advantages to Using RapidArc® Radiotherapy for the Stereotactic Treatment of Tumors

PALO ALTO, Calif., Nov. 12 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Researchers from the University of California, Irvine Medical Center reported last week that image-guided RapidArc® radiotherapy from Varian Medical Systems (NYSE: VAR) has clinical advantages over earlier fixed-beam approaches to stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) or stereotactic radiotherapy (SRT) for treating cancer.

RapidArc, Varian's technology for delivering volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT), enables clinicians to deliver a highly-precise image-guided intensity-modulated treatment quickly, often with just one revolution of the treatment machine around the patient.

"We found that we can deliver RapidArc treatments much more quickly, with an average of 76% less 'beam on' time, and also using 31% fewer monitor units, which could limit unintended and undesired radiation exposure to patients," said Daniel C. Schiffner, M.D., chief resident in the UCI Department of Radiation Oncology, in a presentation at the annual meeting of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) in Chicago.(1)

"The reduction in monitor units is important because it limits the degree to which patients are exposed to radiation leakage from the treatment machine," he said. "In addition, less 'beam on' time improves our clinical workflow, improves patient comfort during treatment, and limits the potential for patient and organ motion during the treatment session, which can allow more accurate dose targeting."

source: Varian

Preventative Brain Radiation for Lung Cancer Patients

CHICAGO - A new study is taking a closer look at the benefits versus risks for lung cancer patients to undergo preventative brain radiation therapy as a means to stop cancer from spreading to the brain.

Study results show that while preventative brain radiation for patients with non-small cell lung cancer - the most common form of lung cancer - does reduce the chance of developing brain metastases, it impacts some short-term and long-term memory.

The study also reveals that preventative brain radiation does not increase survival and has no significant impact on quality of life, says study co-investigator Benjamin Movsas, M.D., chair of the Department of Radiation Oncology at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit.

"These findings offer a more complete perspective regarding this intervention for patients with non-small cell lung cancer," Movsas says. "We now need to develop strategies to help shift the benefit-risk ratio for this treatment."

Dr. Movsas will present the study results Nov. 2 at the plenary session for the 51st annual American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) meeting. Out of nearly 1,000 abstracts submitted, only a handful of study abstracts, including the one from Henry Ford, were selected for the ASTRO plenary session.

source: Henry Ford Health System

Stereotactic radiotherapy offers noninvasive, effective treatment for frail patients with early-stage lung cancer

DALLAS — Nov. 2, 2009 — Stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) should be considered a new standard of care for early-stage lung cancer treatment in patients with co-existing medical problems, according to results from a national clinical trial led by UT Southwestern Medical Center physicians.

In this study, 55 patients diagnosed with early non-small-cell lung (NSCL) cancer and unable to have their tumors surgically removed because of unrelated medical comorbidities were treated with SBRT during three noninvasive outpatient treatments.

The most recent findings, presented today in Chicago at the 51st annual meeting of the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology, show that the primary lung cancer did not recur 98 percent of the time. Despite their extreme frailty, more than half of these patients — 56 percent — were alive three years after diagnosis, while less than 20 percent ultimately died of metastatic lung cancer.

“These findings have changed the standard of care for lung cancer in patients with serious medical problems like emphysema, heart disease and strokes,” said Dr. Robert Timmerman, vice chairman of radiation oncology at UT Southwestern and principal investigator of the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG) 0236 study.

source: Southwestern Medical Center

Imaging Systems from GE Healthcare Spotlight the Possibilities of Connected Oncology Care at ASTRO 2009

CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--According to the American Cancer Society, more than one million people are diagnosed with cancer each year. In the United States, about 1 out of every 2 men and 1 out of every 3 women will have some type of cancer at some point during their lifetime. The sooner a cancer is detected and treatment begins, the better the patient’s chances for survival.

The GE Healthcare business unit of General Electric Company (NYSE: GE) will spotlight potential connections across the cancer care continuum at the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) meeting in Chicago, Ill., Nov. 1-5, 2009. “Oncology care is about making connections,” said Paul Anderson, General Manager of Oncology for GE Healthcare. “It’s about making the connection between the disease, the treatment, the patients and the multi-disciplinary clinical team.”

Advances in radiotherapy treatments have required parallel advancements in imaging, providing oncology specialists with imaging technology that moves from basic qualitative information to deliver high-level quantitative patient data. These refinements have allowed oncologists to better target the therapies by connecting all components that are key to personalized patient cancer treatment. The multi-modality oncology suite connects care from pathways to simulate therapy delivery, to gauging the response to actual treatment, to monitoring its efficacy.

GE’s booth at ASTRO will spotlight the connections between disease and treatment, as well as between clinician and patient. At the same time, broader clinical connections that link patient information, department workflow and oncology management will be demonstrated.

source: GE Medical

ASTRO Presentations Highlight Role of TomoTherapy® in Combined Modality Approach to Treating Cancer

MADISON, Wis – TomoTherapy Incorporated (NASDAQ: TOMO) announced today that several clinical presentations at the American Society for Radiation Oncology’s 51st ASTRO Annual Meeting – November 1-5, 2009 in Chicago – will showcase the use of the TomoTherapy® radiation therapy platform as a vital component in the combined modality approach to treating cancer. Additionally, other presentations will explore how TomoTherapy technology is being employed to treat a growing array of challenging indications.

The TomoTherapy Hi·Art® treatment system is a CT scanner-based device that integrates image guidance and helical radiation therapy delivery for increased accuracy and enhanced tumor targeting. There are more than 250 Hi·Art systems in use around the world. More than 45 presentations will be made at ASTRO, detailing how TomoTherapy technology is helping cancer centers around the world improve cancer care through daily imaging and more precise delivery of radiation to targets throughout the body.

Some of the most compelling presentations focus on how the TomoTherapy Hi·Art system has been used to increase dosage to tumors while minimizing toxicity to patients. As a result, the TomoTherapy system is establishing itself as an effective radiation therapy solution for clinicians seeking to explore a combined modality approach that more effectively treats cancer by combining radiotherapy with chemotherapy and/or surgery.

surce: TomoTherapy