Recurrent Pancreatic Cancer Therapy Mulled

U.S. researchers conducting a review study have determined CyberKnife is a safe treatment option for recurrent pancreatic cancer in some patients.

Scientists at Georgetown University’s Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center say pancreatic cancer is one of the most challenging malignancies to treat, and recurrence is common, even after initial treatment with surgery and radiation. When the cancer does return, treatment options are often limited to chemotherapy.

But researchers at the cancer center say they are utilizing the precision allowed by a robotic procedure called CyberKnife to see if radiosurgery is a viable treatment option in select patients.

“When treating recurrent pancreatic tumors, there are a number of factors to evaluate before we can consider radiosurgery as an additional treatment option,” said Dr. Christopher Lominska, lead author of the study. “First, treatment must be safe, which is demonstrated in this study. We also designed a treatment that can be delivered in a short period of time — a critically important quality-of-life factor in this patient population.”

The results of the study were presented last weekend in Boston during the 50th annual meeting of the American Society for Therapeutic and Radiology Oncology.