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High Dose Radiation Treatments Require Precision; Study Shows Prostate Remains Relatively Stable During Treatment
PHILADELPHIA (November 7, 2001) -- Researchers show that the prostate remains stable during radiation therapy treatment. These findings will be presented by in a poster session by Dennis Mah, Ph.D., physicist in the Radiation Oncology Department at Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia, Pa., at the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology Annual Meeting in San Francisco, Ca. on Wednesday, November 7 at 10:15 a.m. PT.
"Technologies allow us to locate the prostate prior to each treatment and then to deliver the radiation precisely, but we wanted to find out if the prostate remained in the same position throughout the treatment," said Mah.
Previous studies have demonstrated that higher doses are possible when treating prostate cancer because of the precision of intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT). This technique allows the radiation oncologist to sculpt the radiation to the tumor, thus avoiding irradiation of organs and tissues nearby. Because of the accuracy of this treatment, higher doses of radiation can be delivered. Higher radiation doses increase the chance for a cure in some prostate cancers.
For the study, 42 patients were scanned in an MRI housed in the Department of Radiation Oncology. A time lapse "movie" was made of the internal anatomy.
"No significant motion was detected," said Mah. "Most of the prostate motion was near the base, but this motion is less than typical setup errors and should not affect intensity modulated radiation therapy or conformal treatments of radiation therapy.
"High dose radiation therapy has been shown to increase the cure rate of prostate cancer," Mah continued. "This information further supports our ability to precisely deliver high dose therapy when precision of treatment is paramount. Given the conclusions of this and other studies, we know that we can precisely design treatment plans involving the prostate that will be accurate on the first and last day of treatment."
Other authors on this Fox Chase Cancer Center study are Gary Freedman, M.D., Bart Milestone M.D., Benjamin Movsas M.D., Raj Mitra M.S., Eric Horwitz M.D., and G.E. Hanks, M.D.
Fox Chase Cancer Center, one of the nation's first comprehensive cancer
centers designated by the National Cancer Institute in 1974, conducts basic
and clinical research; programs of prevention, detection and treatment
of cancer; and community outreach. For more information about Fox Chase
activities, visit the Center's web site at www.fccc.edu.