Evolving URMC Studies Uphold Precision Radiation to Control Cancer

The University of Rochester Medical Center has been a leader in the study of stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) for the past decade, and two of the latest research projects show that SBRT is emerging as an important tool for more people with advanced cancer.

Alan W. Katz, M.D., M.P.H., and Michael T. Milano, M.D., Ph.D., in separate studies in the International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology, Physics, report that SBRT can lead to long-term survival for liver cancer patients who are awaiting a transplant, and for select patients with early metastasis of many types of cancer.

Their work is the latest from a body of research conducted at the URMC’s James P. Wilmot Cancer Center, which was among the first institutions in the country to use SBRT. The therapy delivers high doses of radiation precisely to the tumor without harming adjacent tissues. Doctors use a coordinate system to map their target, and then deliver multiple, intersecting radiation beams at the spot, like several flashlights focused in one area. Because of their early use of this technology, Wilmot scientists have been able to study patients for longer periods under a variety of circumstances.
Michael T. Milano, M.D.

“Although we have known for quite some time that it is possible to treat metastatic disease, the technology needed to catch up to the concept,” said Milano, an associate professor of Radiation Oncology at Wilmot. “Now, physicians have a greater comfort level with SBRT due to treatment and imaging technology that can pinpoint smaller tumors, and data from our institution and others showing that SBRT works very well in certain cases.”

source: University of Rochester Medical Center