Radiation therapy turns cancer against itself

Radiation is one of the key treatments in the fight against all forms of cancer. In fact, more than 50% of all cancer patients receive radiation therapy.

That means this year alone, more than 650,000 people in the U.S. will receive radiation to try and wipe out their disease.

But now, a new radiation therapy is turning cancer against itself.

This year, 230,000 men and women in the U.S. will be diagnosed with lung cancer. According to the American Cancer Society, about 400,000 will be diagnosed with bone cancer.

“Metastatic lung or bone disease, we’re usually talking about stage four cancer at that point,” said Dr. Terrence Williams, radiation oncologist.

For late-stage malignant bone and lung cancers, survival is measured in months, not years, but now, a new type of targeted radiotherapy is turning cancer cells against themselves.

“One therapeutic option that is emerging now is something called biology-guided radiation therapy,” Williams said.

Radiation oncologists at the City of Hope are among the first to use the reflection x one linear accelerator. It’s the world’s first real-time linear accelerator to help visualize the cancer.

“Real-time pet-guided radiation therapy is utilizing the positron emission that comes from the tumor to triangulate where the tumor is in the body and immediately target radiation back to the tumor,” Williams said.

The reflection x one can see precisely where to aim the radiation beams, even when the tumor is moving. This decreases the risk of damaging healthy cells during radiation, giving doctors and their patients another tool to help track down cancer and destroy it.

Earlier this year, the reflection x one received clearance from the FDA to treat primary or metastatic lung and bone cancer tumors.