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Tomotherapy for Patients with Limited Metastatic Cancer
Untitled Document
Name of the Trial
Phase II Study of Hypofractionated Highly Conformal Radiotherapy With Helical
Tomotherapy in Patients With Extracranial Oligometastases (NCI-07-C-0230). See
the protocol summary.
Principal Investigator
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Dr. Deborah Citrin
Principal Investigator |
Dr. Deborah Citrin, NCI Center for Cancer Research
Why This Trial Is Important
Most people who die from cancer succumb to metastatic disease, cancer that
has spread to other parts of the body. Treatment for metastatic cancer is usually
undertaken to help relieve pain and other symptoms because the cancer is often
considered too widespread to be cured.
Sometimes, though, metastatic cancer can be detected and treated before it
becomes widespread. Moreover, certain types of cancer may spread to only one
or a few other locations. Such limited metastatic tumors are called oligometastases
(the Greek word "oligos" means few or little). Previous studies have
shown that removing these tumors surgically can result in long-term survival
for some patients, effectively curing them of their cancer.
Doctors want to find ways to extend treatment with curative intent to patients
whose oligometastases cannot be surgically removed or who are unwilling to risk
the complications of major surgery. One approach being investigated is the use
of high-dose radiotherapy delivered over a short period of time (hypofractionated)
to destroy tumors without surgery.
In this trial, patients with oligometastases outside the brain will be treated
with a type of radiation therapy called helical tomotherapy. Helical tomotherapy
uses a machine that is similar to a CT scanner but also contains a source for
therapeutic levels of radiation. The tomotherapy machine delivers high-dose
radiation from any angle, allowing the precise targeting of small or irregularly
shaped tumors (that is, the radiation pattern is "highly conformal"),
which minimizes the radiation exposure of surrounding normal tissue. In contrast,
traditional external beam radiotherapy targets the tumor from only one or a
few angles, exposing surrounding normal tissue to substantial doses of radiation
and limiting the amount of radiation that can be delivered.
"The idea of this study is to look at patients with limited metastatic
disease as potentially curable, even if their tumors can't be removed surgically,"
said Dr. Citrin. "If we can destroy the patient's tumors with another local
therapy, in this case highly conformal radiotherapy, we may be able to extend
survival and possibly cure some people."
For More Information
See the list of entry
criteria and trial
contact information or call the NCI Clinical Trials Referral Office at 1-888-NCI-1937.
The call is toll free and confidential.
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