SHARES
Having recently won Oncology Provider of the Year and Leading Hospital for Cardiovascular Care at the Global Health and Travel Awards and Icons of Healthcare respectively, Farrer Park Hospital is poised to deliver a wide range of topics on Oncology and Cardiovascular diseases.
The first Lung Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy (SBRT) with Active Breathing Control (ABC) was conducted in Singapore at FPH. SBRT involves the delivery of a single high dose radiation treatment or a few fractionated radiation treatments (usually up to 5 treatments) in the exact location of identified tumors in the body. With the use of a special device called an Active Breathing Control (ABC) device, the patient is treated while the breath is held, and the target area is still. This means that an even more precise dose of radiation to the target area can be done, and save more normal tissues.
Lung cancer accounts for 15 % of all cancers in men and 7.5 % in women over the past five years, this has been reported by the Singapore Cancer Society in 2017.
Lung cancer begins in the lungs and could spread to the lymph nodes or other organs in the body, for example the brain. Cancer from other organs can also spread to the lungs.
What are the types of lung cancer?
Physicians divide lung cancer into two major types based on the appearance of cancer cells under the microscope. Based on the type of lung cancer the patient may be having, the physician makes treatment decisions for the patient. The two general types of lung cancer include:
- Small cell lung cancer: This type occurs almost exclusively in heavy smokers and is less common than non-small cell lung cancer.
- Non-small cell lung cancer: This is an umbrella term for several types of lung cancers that behave in a similar fashion. Non-small cell lung cancers include adenocarcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, and large cell carcinoma.
A very novel method of treatment for lung cancer is the Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy (SBRT). This is a treatment procedure similar to central nervous system (CNS) stereotactic radiosurgery, except that the former deals with tumors outside of the CNS. SBRT is now increasingly being used to treat patients with medically inoperable stage I non-small cell lung cancer. The method combines reproducible and accurate anatomic targeting with the delivery of a very high dose per fraction of radiation to a target. A stereotactic radiation treatment for the body means that a specially designed coordinate system is used to determine the exact location of the tumors in the body in order to treat it with limited but highly precise treatment fields. The process of SBRT involves delivery of one high dose radiation treatment or a multiple fractionated radiation treatments (usually up to 5).
Delivery of a high potent biological dose of radiation to the tumor improves the cure rates for the tumor. This was previously not achievable by the conventional radiation therapy method.
How Does SBRT Differ from Conventional Therapy
In the conventional method, radiation is given to patients in small doses over several weeks on a daily basis. With SBRT, physicians are able to deliver a greater combined dose of radiation over far fewer treatments. SBRT has shown dramatically better outcomes than conventional radiation therapy. Although SBRT delivers higher biological radiation dosage, it has been found that patients experience lesser side effects, including radiation pneumonia. One common side effect of SBRT is slight fatigue for a week following treatment.
Who Can Benefit From SBRT
SBRT is perfect for people with lung cancer, especially those with small tumors — five cm or less. Surgery doesnt work for these patients due to the risk of functional deficit. Patients whose tumors are located centrally or close to airways or the heart have sometimes been considered poor candidates for SBRT due to higher complication rates.
Farrer Park Hospital (FPH) has successfully conducted SBRT with ABC. For more information on this, make an appointment with the physicians via GetDoc.
by Hridya
A biochemist by education who could never put what she studied to good use, finally found GetDoc as a medium to do what she loved - bring information to people using a forum that is dedicated to all things medical. View all articles by Hridya.
