Elekta Axesse SBRT linear accelerator.
April 6, 2010 - The three-year survival rate for patients receiving stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) was 55.8 percent, compared to the 20-35 percent two-year to three-year overall survival rate for studies reporting results from conventional radiation therapy for similar patient groups, a recent study found.
Lead investigator, Robert Timmerman, M.D., conducted a study using SBRT to treat nearly 60 patients with inoperable early stage lung cancer. The study 2004-2006 Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG 0236) study was a Phase 2 North American trial of patients with nonsmall cell lung tumors where pre-existing medical conditions precluded surgical treatment.
According to Dr. Timmerman, the main finding in this study was the high rate of primary tumor control, which is 97.6 percent at three years. "SBRT as delivered in this trial provided more than double the rate of primary tumor control than previous reports describing conventional radiation therapy. Primary tumor control is essential for curing lung cancer," he said.
Dr. Timmerman and his team used Elekta SBRT solutions. The system is designed to integrate advanced technologies to enable a radiation therapy treatment technique that delivers highly sculpted dose distributions with exceptional precision.
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