What are the latest modern cancer treatments?

Modern medicine has changed so fast that many diseases now including cancerAbnormal, uncontrolled cell division resulting in a malignant tumour that may invade surrounding tissues or spread to distant parts of the body. are no longer a death sentence. For example, even up until relatively recently, an HIVThe abbreviation for human immunodeficiency virus, which is the cause of AIDS. positive diagnosisThe process of determining which condition a patient may have. was effectively a death sentence, but these days given the right treatments people do not die of HIV. The same is now becoming true for many types of cancer thanks to new technologies such as Gamma Knife and CyberKnife. These treatment options mean that Star Trek technology is now a reality. A combination of imaging and intelligent robotic radiosurgery means that tumours are detected and destroyed without even the need for an anaestheticA medication that reduces sensation. or a surgeon.

Radiosurgery

According to Royal Marsden oncology expert Dr Chris Nutting: “If tumours only occurred in convenient locations the job of the surgeon and oncologistA specialist in the treatment of cancer. would be made so much easier. The trouble is that they don’t and many wrap themselves around or are close to other vital tissues or spread into delicate areas such as nervous tissue. This means that the surgeon’s skills can be stretched to the limit or the use of conventional radiotherapyThe treatment of disease using radiation. would also damage too much healthy tissue. What is needed is a clear image of the precise location of the tumour (with all its irregularities) so that the delivery of radiationEnergy in the form of waves or particles, including radio waves, X-rays and gamma rays. can be accurately pinpointed to these parts, and these parts alone. This is where CyberKnife® can come in. CyberKnife® is an example of a ‘stereotactic radiosurgical technique’ and combines the benefits of controlled irradiation with on-line tumour imaging and tracking.”

This technology is now available for many types of cancer including the following:

Spine

Many of the vascularRelating to blood vessels. problems that occur in the brain also occur in the spine and CyberKnife® has marked advantages over other radiosurgical techniques in that it is capable of targeting spinal lesions. Also, vertebralAffecting the vertebrae, the bones of the spine, or the joints between them tumours (the vertebra is the spine bone) may similarly be treated by this technology (with sparing of the radiosensitive spinal cord that runs through the vertebra).

Lung

Single or several tumours in the lung

Individual lung cancers (primary or secondary)

Prostate

CyberKnife® now offers a new radiotherapeutic method with potential to cure but with far fewer visits to the radiotherapy department for therapy.

Pancreas

The pancreasA gland behind the stomach that produces digestive enzymes and the hormones insulin and glucagon, which together regulate glucose levels in the blood. is surrounded by delicate and radiosensitive structures such as the duodenumThe first part of the small intestine. and a sophisticated deposition of dose is required to allow maximal deposition of radiation dose on the pancreaticRelating to the pancreas. tumour and yet sparing of these surrounding organs.

Liver

Quite simply, CyberKnife® seems the important advance that we have been waiting for, and more than one lesion can be targeted.

Kidney

Renal cancer is recognised as being one of the more radioresistant cancers and the need for higher dose therapy is restricted by the dose that surrounding tissues will tolerate. Focussed radiation therapy by CyberKnife® can be most useful in these situations.

When other treatments have failed

The ability of CyberKnife® to focally deposit high doses of ablative radiation on discrete sites of cancer has led to the safer re-treatment of cancers that may have re-grown after previous radiotherapy - as the surrounding normal tissues (almost at tolerance dose to radiation exposure) is spared much of the re-treatment dose.

Clinical oncologists are excited about this major leap in the application of the new technologies to treat cancer. In a way there is nothing particularly new as all of the theory has been in place for some time, but it is the ability to combine all the technologies into one unit that suddenly opens the door to a hostAn animal or plant that supports a parasite. of new treatment possibilities.