Israeli researchers were able to use continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) techniques to smooth out patients’ breathing and allow for more efficient stereotactic ablation of early-stage lung cancer, according to a presentation at the Radiological Society of North America annual meeting.
Median survival of the 114 patients included in the study was 46 months, and 3-year overall survival was 59%.
Sarit Appel, MD, radiation oncologist at Chaim Sheba Medical Center, Ramat Gan,Appel said that one of the difficulties in treating lung cancer with stereotactic ablation body radiation is that the target lesion in the lungs moves when the patient breathes. She demonstrated that, by providing CPAP to the patients during the procedure, the chest wall movement could be flattened out, thus making the radiation oncologist’s chore of eradicating the tumors easier and more efficient.
Read more at http://www.medpagetoday.com/MeetingCoverage/RSNA/61807
