Ultra-Precise Radiation
Reported December 26, 2005
STANFORD, Calif. (Ivanhoe Broadcast News) — Radiation is a necessary evil for more than half of all cancer patients. The treatment can last for weeks and pose harsh side effects. Now, a new machine allows patients to receive higher doses of therapy in less time.
Since a diagnosis of gallbladder cancer, Josephine Diener cherishes every old memory and every new moment with her family. “It was traumatic for them because I had never been sick in my life, you know,” she says. “I had never even gone to the hospital.”
Doctors gave her six months to live, but Diener is determined to beat those odds. To help her do that, Stanford Hospital and Clinics’ radiation oncologist Albert Koong, M.D., used a state-of-the-art radiation system — called Trilogy — to treat her cancer.
“I think this is a new era of radiotherapy in that we’re now seeing the tumors that we’re actually treating and seeing them in real time,” Dr. Koong tells Ivanhoe.
Trilogy lets doctors see a 3-D view of the tumor to determine exactly where the beams should land. When patients breathe, tumors can shift. The machine helps doctors track the tumor and deliver therapy to the correct spot.
Dr. Koong says it will result in increased dose intensity to the tumor and fewer overall side effects for the patient. Trilogy also allows higher doses to be given in a shorter amount of time. In some cases, treatment can be given in just one day.
“If we can compress this treatment, they’ve gotten five weeks of their life back,” Dr. Koong says.
Diener has finished her treatment and can now focus on other things, like writing a book about her family history. Only time will tell if the treatment was able to shrink her tumor enough, but she is hopeful and is looking forward to a new chapter in her life.
The Trilogy technology can be used on virtually all cancers that require radiation. There are several centers around the country that have a Trilogy machine.
If you would like more information, please contact:
Andrea Smith
Stanford Hospital
1451 California Ave.
Palo Alto, CA 94303
(650) 723-1260
