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The latest issue of the journal Annals of Oncology reports that a major new study by one of the country's leadingcancer centers, the VU University Medical Center (VUMC) inAmsterdam has revealed that widespread use of advanced radiotherapytechniques in the Netherlands has resulted in improved survivalrates amongst elderly lung cancer patients. Until now, the VUMC has treated over a thousand patients forpulmonary tumors with stereotactic ablative radiotherapy (SABR).Varian Medical Systems supplied the machines for the SABRtreatment. Dr. Niels Haasbeek from VUMC's department of radiation oncology,the first author of the publication, states: "The greater use of advanced radiotherapy techniques have led tolarge improvements in survival for Dutch lung cancer patients over the age of 75, many of whom are too frail to undergosurgery. Those patients in this age group who are fit enough forsurgery should also be informed about the curative option of SABRas an alternative to surgery." Even though worldwide lung cancer is the most common cause of cancer , improvements in overall survival rates have been minimal over thelast few decades. For instance, the five-year survival rate for nonsmall-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) increased by only 3% from 13% in1975-1977 to 16% by 1999-2005. Researchers from the VUMC conducted a nationwide study applying theexpertise they gained in several years of advanced radiotherapy forearly-stage lung cancer patients to examine stereotactic bodyradiotherapy (SABR) affects on survival rates. SBRT is a treatment method in which the tumor is targeted with ahigh-energy radiation beam in order to damage tumor cell DNA andkill the cancer cell. The VUMC team has treated over 800 stage-1 lung tumor patientswithin the last nine years, most of them using SABR. The clinicreceives referrals from over 70 Dutch hospitals and treats patientson six Varian linear accelerators, two of which are TrueBeam™devices and one is a Novalis Tx™ machine. However, since2008, all lung SABR treatments at VUMC have been provided by usingVarian's RapidArc® technology, many on the TrueBeam system.Professor Ben Slotman, VUMC's head of radiation oncology says thatthe biggest benefit of RapidArc for lung patients are shortertreatment times with less risk of motion. He says: "This is especially important for SABR, where high doses aredelivered over fewer treatment sessions. The delivery of thehighest dose for lung tumors was reduced from 30 minutes to justsix minutes. With the introduction of TrueBeam technology, theintegration between imaging and treatment delivery has beenimproved. By using the High Intensity Mode in the very near future,we expect to reduce the treatment time to less than three minutes." Study leader, Professor Suresh Senan, radiation oncologist at VUMC,explained: "SABR was first used in the Netherlands at VUMC in 2003, so we usedthe Dutch National Cancer Registry to examine survival data forthree defined periods -- the three-year period before it wasintroduced, the three-year period while it was becoming availableat other Dutch centers, and the three years when it was availablenationwide. We noted a marked improvement in survival among thenearly 5,000 lung cancer patients aged over 75 who were treatedover these nine years." During the retrospective study period, advanced techniques likeSABR resulted in an increase of radiotherapy use for lung cancerpatients from 31 to almost 38%, whilst the rate of survivalincreased in almost 10 months from 16.8 to 26.1 months. Written By Petra Rattue Copyright: Medical News Today Not to be reproduced without permission of Medical News Today Additional References Citations. I am an expert from bottle-fillingmachine.com, while we provides the quality product, such as China Barrel Filling Machine , Filling and Sealing Machine Manufacturer, Barrel Filling Machine,and more.
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