CLEVELAND, Oct. 5, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — Advanced imaging with Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scans shows great promise in predicting which patients with inoperable lung cancer have more aggressive tumors and need additional treatment following standard chemotherapy/radiation therapy, according to new research.

Mitch Machtay, MD, of the Seidman Cancer Center at University Hospitals (UH) Case Medical Center and principle investigator for the study, presented the significant data today at 2 pm at the annual meeting of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) in Miami Beach, Fla. The National Cancer Institute-funded trial, led by the American College of Radiology Imaging Network (ACRIN) in collaboration with Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG), enrolled 251 patients at 60 cancer centers around the country.

“Lung cancer remains the number one cancer killer in the United States. These findings have the potential to give cancer physicians a new tool to more effectively tailor treatments for patients with locally advanced lung cancer,” says Dr. Machtay, Chairman of Radiation Oncology at UH Case Medical Center and Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. “This cooperative group study determined that the PET scan can show us which patients have the most aggressive tumors, potentially enabling us to intensify their treatment.”

From the Sacramento Bee

Study of potentially operable Stage I NSCLC demonstrates tumor control comparable to surgery

MIAMI, Oct. 4, 2011 — /PRNewswire/ — Results of new research presented at the American Society of Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) 53rd Annual Meeting this week showed that patients with different types of early stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) can benefit from treatment with stereotactic body radiosurgery (SBRT).

Treating Potentially Operable Stage I NSCLC Patients

In a presentation earlier today, Frank Lagerwaard, MD, radiation oncologist at VU University Medical Center in Amsterdam, reported that potentially operable patients with Stage I NSCLC who were treated with stereotactic ablative radiotherapy (SABR), which is another term for SBRT, achieved comparable tumor control rates to those treated with the current surgical standard of care. Thirty-three percent of the patients in the study were treated with Varian Medical System’s RapidArc delivered on a Novalis TX™ linear accelerator from Varian and Brainlab.