LUNG CANCER

Lung cancer is a leading cause of cancer deaths. At Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, treatment for lung cancer involves a multidisciplinary approach including surgery, chemotherapy and radiation therapy. UHealth specialists in thoracic surgery, pulmonary disease, medical oncology, radiation oncology, radiology, and pathology meet weekly to discuss the best approach for each lung cancer patient.

The Department of Radiation Oncology offers state-of-the-art radiation therapy with emphasis on quality and precision to deliver the exact radiation dose to a defined area. In addition to external beam radiation therapy, high-dose-rate brachytherapy is used to insert short-range radioactive sources into the airway by bronchoscopy to treat tumors inside the bronchial tubes that may be blocking the airway and causing breathing problems.

The precise delivery of radiation to lung tumors is hampered by the patient’s breathing, which makes the tumors moving targets. It is difficult to aim a radiation beam at a lung tumor without hitting healthy tissue in the process. Sylvester will soon offer a new technique that activates the radiation beam only when the lung cancer cells are in its path. This will enable high doses of radiation to be delivered to the tumor, while sparing healthy lung tissue.

In the near future, Sylvester will offer photodynamic therapy, which uses a light-sensitive compound to sensitize tumors in the chest wall or tracheobronchial tree to laser light.