CyberKnife technique advancement (multileaf collimator)

[Olga]

Thanks to Bruce Shriver post on SA mailing list, I found that Fox Chase Researchers Identified a Fast and More Accurate Treatment Delivery for a Robotic Radiosurgery System - this new technique uses a multileaf collimator (MLC) and can flexibly sculpt a single radiation beam to match the exact contour of a tumor––significantly reducing the treatment time and minimizing the amount of radiation to the neighboring tissues. They are going to present this new technique at the 2011 American Society for Radiation Oncology Annual Meeting on Sunday, October 2.


"Using the MLC plan, we can deliver radiation therapy much faster compared
to the current CyberKnife technique, and we can achieve much better target
coverage and a much sharper dose fall off than a regular IMRT plan," Fan
says. "Basically, we can spare the critical structures around tumors much
better , providing the ability to treat the tumor to a higher dose without
increasing the normal tissue toxicity . Consequently, we can achieve
better tumor control with less damage to the patient's body." The advantages
associated with the CK-MLC plan offer great potential for the widespread
clinical application of robotic radiotherapy, Fan adds." See
http://bit.ly/plmdTs for the complete story.
The significance for the patients with the unresectable metastases located close to the vital structures that are at risk when using conventional Cyber Knife - that now they can be treated by this new unit and avoid their vital structures be damaged - like spinal cord, pulmonary veins, heart etc. Contact Dr. Jiajin (James) Fan, PhD Radiation Oncology Physicist, Buckingham Radiation Therapy Facility if you are in a hard situation of this kind to see what he can offer.

[Bonni Hess]

Thank you for sharing this very important information Olga. We all need as many weapons as possible in this challenging battle, and this sounds like a very good one for treating unresectable mets without damaging vital organs or structures. Do you know if there is a limit for the size of the mets that can be successfully treated with this new technique?
With deepest gratitude, special caring thoughts, and continued Hope,
Bonni

[Olga]

Bonni, I guess that the tumor size and the number is pretty much the same as with the regular CyberKnife treatment plans but the locations they can treat with the CK MLS are more daring than the ones they did with the IMRT and reg. CK - they say it allows them "to spare nearby critical structures". The abstract can be found here:
http://astro2011.abstractsnet.com/acove ... yid=011471
and unfortunately it does not let me to copy from there.