London, March 18: An experimental type of highly focused radiation therapy has shown promising results in treating inoperable but life-threatening lung cancer tumors.
While surgical removal of tumors is the standard treatment for early-stage lung cancer, some patients can not undergo such operations due to other underlying diseases such as emphysema and heart disease.
Such patients therefore undergo conventional radiation treatment or are left untreated until the cancer progresses all through the body and leads to their death within two years.
“Conventional radiotherapy fails to durably control the primary lung tumor in 60 percent to 70 percent of patients. More than half of patients ultimately die specifically from progressive lung cancer with observation, and 2-year survival is less than 40 percent with either approach,” said lead researcher Robert Timmerman.
According to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) can effectively control more than 87% of early-stage inoperable non-small-cell lung cancer tumors for up to three years.
Compared to conventional radiation treatment, the intensive radiation therapy provides more than double the rate of primary tumor control, the study found.
“Stereotactic body radiation therapy controlled peripheral small tumors in a large majority of patients and had an impressive overall survival rate at three years,” concluded Timmerman.
Scientists hope the new non-invasive technique would soon be approved by the FDA, saving more individuals from the fatal condition.
—–Agencies