CTCA Tulsa testing lung cancer radiation treatment system
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PUBLICATION: The Journal Record
DATE PUBLISHED: 1/6/12
AUTHOR: Kirby Lee Davis
The Tulsa arm of Cancer Treatment Centers of America has taken a leadership role in an international cancer test, admitting the first four U.S. patients in a study adapting a prostate treatment system to the lungs.
The Calypso 4D Localization System, which uses tiny transponders injected inside the patient's body to boost radiation treatment targeting accuracy, already has U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval for prostate cancer usage.
In this Institutional Review Board-approved study, CTCA Tulsa is working with St. Louis-based Washington University to test whether a modified Calypso system can deliver tighter focus areas and accuracy for radiation treatments to lung tumors. Since such masses may shuffle about with each patient breath, conventional radiation systems require broad treatment areas that inevitably irradiate healthy tissue.
The study may also help clinicians determine if the Calypso system holds promise for metastatic tumors around the lungs, said Dr. Daniel Nader, CTCA Tulsa's national director for pulmonary and critical care medicine.
"So part of this research is the effectiveness of this radiation therapy itself," the Tulsa physician said in a telephone interview Wednesday.
Nader said the partners will apply the Calypso on 20 patients, hoping its upgraded transponders will improve treatment efficiencies with smaller radiation zones.
The tests also will consider potential risks presented by these transponders, which measure 14 millimeters long and 2 to 5 millimeters wide.
“The issue is, is there any risk in putting these in patients, and what are the long-term consequences, because it’s a foreign body in the lung and it’s in an airway,” said Nader, who is the hospital’s principal investigator in this study. Working with him at CTCA are radiation oncologists Michael Payne, Oneita Taylor, James Flynn and William Goad.
Nader’s strong interest in lung diseases and treatments led to CTCA Tulsa’s involvement in this test. He expects their part of the study to take up to four months. Their results would then be compared to 20 patient tests handled in other parts of the world.
He could offer no timetable for the FDA’s response, noting regulators could use this study as the foundation for a second, larger test.
While acknowledging such participation fosters a positive cutting-edge marketing image for any health care provider, Nader put more emphasis on the potential treatment benefits the study could reveal.
About 221,000 new lung cancer cases are diagnosed each year in the United States, according to the American Cancer Society. CTCA Tulsa averages about 150 lung cancer patients annually.
“We’re obviously looking for what’s going to be the most effective way to manage cancer,” he said. “If this is something that is going to give the patient the edge, I think that’s the most important part.”
