Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy

Without a doubt, cancer still remains as one of the leading causes of death for both men and women in the United States. Even though the death rates for certain types of cancer have decreased, others have been constant or even increased. Medical researchers and oncologists are working hard to find even more effective treatments, or perhaps even a cure for the disease. In the meantime, external beam radiotherapy is one of the preferred methods to fight the spreading of the cancer, and within that treatment, you will find another treatment known as stereotactic body radiation therapy.

Treating Lung Cancer With Stereotactic

Stereotactic body radiation therapy is the preferred method chosen by numerous oncologists because it uses few high-dose fractions. This means that the healthy cells or tissue of the body won’t be affected as much as in other types of treatment. Previously, stereotactic body radiation therapy had been used only for intracranial lesions, but recently, it’s being implemented for other diseases that are not within the skull. One of those diseases is lung cancer, which is still being mainly treated with surgery but many physicians are opting to treat their patients with stereotactic body radiation therapy. However, this is only performed on peripheral lesions and not on central ones due to the possible poisoning of the mediastinum. Consequently, in the U.S. every center follows the standard of fractioning implemented by Timmerman.

Fighting Liver Cancer

When it comes to liver cancer, the majority of cancer treatment centers implement surgical resection to treat the problem. Nonetheless, researchers and medical investigators have been studying the effects of stereotactic body radiation therapy on the liver for several years. Reports have shown that liver cancer patients that received stereotactic body radiation therapy in the whole liver were expected to survive a little over four months. Moreover, those who received a boost dose of radiation were able to extend this to 14 months, and these numbers have been improved by additional testing and clinical trials performed by researchers all around the world. In addition, stereotactic body radiation therapy has been tested on patients who have developed liver metastases where surgery was not possible, and the results seem to promise 93% a survival rate that extends to 18 months.

Known Stereotactic Treatments

Stereotactic body radiation therapy has spread all over the world, with medical researchers and investigators working hard to find more effective ways to make use of it. Stereotactic radiation was first used in the brain and spine only, but researchers have found ways to implement it in the treatment of tumors in other parts of the body, such as the lungs and the liver. Furthermore, the entire stereotactic treatment has evolved due to the heavy research, and can now be implemented with higher doses that don’t pose any major threats to the tissue or the proper functioning of the organs. The majority of cancer treatment centers refer to stereotactic therapy by the brand name of the manufacturers. Some of the most common ones are:

• Cyberknife
• Novalis
• Truebeam
• Synergy