From: Emily Murphy
From: stuff.co.nz
A “laser-guided missile” cancer therapy will cut treatment time for patients and leave them with fewer side-effects.
Stereotactic Ablative Body Radiotherapy (SABR) will soon be available for up to 50 people a year in Canterbury through St George’s Hospital and the Canterbury District Health Board.
The treatment uses high doses of radiation to target small tumours, whereas other treatments are used more broadly.
Ginny Keith underwent surgery in 2013 for metastatic melanoma. The US-born woman, who lives near Methven, discovered the cancer had spread to her left lung last year.
Too small to remove with surgery, specialists advised she had few options.
To seek help, Keith sought the advice of her sister, who works for a cancer centre in San Diego. She learnt about SABR’s use to target small tumours.
St George’s had the technology available, but it had not used it to treat lung cancers.
In Keith’s case, the treatment was successful, and all that was left behind was a small piece of scar tissue.
She underwent surgery in 2013 for metastatic melanoma. The US-born woman, who lives near Methven, discovered the cancer had spread to her left lung last year.
Too small to remove with surgery, specialists advised she had few options.
To seek help, Keith sought the advice of her sister, who works for a cancer centre in San Diego. She learnt about SABR’s use to target small tumours.
St George’s had the technology available, but it had not used it to treat lung cancers.
In Keith’s case, the treatment was successful, and all that was left behind was a small piece of scar tissue.
Barbara Jacoby is an award winning blogger that has contributed her writings to multiple online publications that have touched readers worldwide.