Treatment doubles chances of surviving lung cancer


Researchers at Tempe University may have found a new treatment for lung cancer that could potentially reduce the need for future surgeries.


Dr. Curtis Miyamoto, chair and professor of the department of radiation and oncology at the school of medicine, said the treatment is designed for early-stage lung cancer patients who either cannot undergo surgery or who refuse to.


"With the success of this technique, we're now questioning whether we'll even be doing surgeries on these patients in the future," Miyamoto said.


The technique, called stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT), needs only three to eight treatments compared to the 35 for the traditional radiation process for the condition and uses precise and larger doses of radiation instead of multiple smaller ones.


Those who have undergone SBRT have experienced survival ranges averaging 32 months with some living for two years free of the disease.


Treatment doubles chances of surviving lung cancer The cure rate through this method is approximately 81 percent and may reach up to 98 percent, according to the International Journal of Radiation OncologyBiologyPhysics. For the traditional treatment, the cure rate is 35 percent.


Such high survival rates are equivalent to other techniques, like invasive surgery, but you don't have to go under the knife," says Miyamoto.


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