Experts Discuss the Potential of Stereotactic Body Radiotherapy (SBRT) in the Treatment of Lung, Spine, and Liver Cancer

NEW YORK, April 27 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Radiosurgical approaches to cancer treatment are showing promise in the treatment of lung, liver, and spinal tumors, according to four leading clinical experts who presented at a symposium in New York earlier this month. New approaches to image-guidance and motion management are making it possible to successfully target tumors that are typically hard to reach with a radiosurgical technique doctors call stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT).

"Evidence has shown that increasing the dose to the targeted tumor improves local control or survival, while reducing the dose to normal surrounding tissues reduces treatment toxicity of treatment," said John J. Kresl, M.D., Ph.D., medical director of Radiation Oncologists of Central Arizona at Banner Good Samaritan Medical Center. "This is precisely what stereotactic body radiotherapy enables us to do so well. In the past, outcomes for radiation therapy weren't as good as we hoped for, because side effects prevented us from making the dose high enough to control the cancer. By enabling us to minimize exposure of the normal healthy tissues, stereotactic treatments are helping to overcome this problem."

Radiosurgical treatments involve the use of numerous small, powerful, highly focused radiation beams to attack tumors from many different angles in just one to five sessions. Conventional radiotherapy approaches involve delivering smaller daily doses over 30 to 40 treatment sessions.

source: Varian Medical Systems