Radiation is used in several situations when treating lung cancer. The most common use for lung cancer is in inoperable situations. Radiation is either used in conjunction with chemotherapy or as a stand alone treatment. There are several forms of radiation that can be used, depending on the location of the tumor and the areas that need to be treated, they are:
3D Conformal Radiation Therapy, or 3D-CRT, which is the standard form of radiation that allows for the treatment of tumors in any location, as well as areas such as the mediastinum that may harbor microscopic disease. New technologies such as Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy, or IMRT, allow the Radiation Oncologists at Advanced Radiation Centers of New York (ARC) to have more ability to shape the radiation as shown next:
IMRT, or Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy is a very sophisticated method of treating Lung Cancer with radiation. It specifically allows for a very focused and shaped field of radiation to be delivered to the tumor and areas at risk, while at the same time, sparing normal, healthy tissue in the region. This form of therapy provides major advantages over 3D-CRT, in that more of the normal lung tissue can be kept out of the high-dose region, thereby causing less risk of damage. Higher doses of radiation can also be achieved, which may increase the cure rate.
IGRT or Image Guided Radiation Therapy is another technology that can also be used to ensure better targeting of daily radiation treatments. ARC is the leader in IGRT in metropolitan New York, having treated more than 2,000 patients with IGRT in the last few years alone. IGRT is used in lung cancer to ensure that the radiation treatments are targeted to the tumor with less collateral damage to adjacent tissues in the chest area.
Stereotactic Radiosurgery, or SRS, is a form of highly targeted radiation that uses only five treatments or less in a very focused radiation treatment. Advanced Radiation Centers of New York is a leader in Stereotactic Radiosurgery, and is the first on Long Island and Rockland County to use the Trilogy SRS system by Varian Medical Systems.
