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Surgeons
use cyberknife to treat vocal cord cancer
Surgeons
use cyberknife to treat vocal cord cancer
Date:
April 3,
2014
Source:
UT Southwestern Medical Center
Summary:
Stephen Wiley, a lifelong cowboy from Terrell, has
helped pioneer a new treatment for vocal cord cancer. Doctors found tumors in
both his vocal cords. The $7 million Cyberknife, has a small linear particle
accelerator and a robotic arm that allows it to treat tumors on any part of the
body with radiation, explained his surgeon. Only about 200 of these
cutting-edge machines exist in the world, most of them in the United States.
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Stephen
Wiley, a lifelong cowboy from Terrell, has helped UT Southwestern Medical
Center pioneer a new treatment for vocal cord cancer. Mr. Wiley volunteered to
be the world's first known patient to be treated for vocal cord cancer with
Cyberknife, a surgeon-controlled robotic device that destroys tumors with
highly precise doses of radiation.
Mr. Wiley, a
yard driver for a manufacturing company who also raises horses on his own time,
said he started waking up in the morning with a hoarse voice and thought it was
nothing more than aging. It got continually worse, until one day he was reduced
to a whisper.
"We
have to talk on the radio constantly and whenever my voice went away, it was a
safety issue," said Mr. Wiley, 59.
Doctors
found tumors in both his vocal cords, and referred him to UT Southwestern,
where he met with Dr. Larry Myers, Assistant Professor of Otolaryngology-Head
and Neck Surgery.
"Dr.
Myers said, 'Well, we've been looking for someone like yourself for a research
project that's never been done before.' I said, 'Heck, if it works and it's
going to help other people, I'm willing to go for it,' " Mr. Wiley
recalled. "It has worked out great. People here at work say, 'Your voice
is back to normal.'"
Six doctors
had to unanimously agree that Mr. Wiley was a good candidate for the procedure,
which he said gave him confidence that the Cyberknife trial was right for him.
The $7 million Cyberknife, built by the California-based company Accuray, has a
small linear particle accelerator and a robotic arm that allows it to treat
tumors on any part of the body with radiation, explained his surgeon, Dr. Baran
Sumer, Associate Professor of Otolaryngology -- Head and Neck Surgery. There
are no records from the maker or in medical literature of the robotic device
previously being used to treat vocal cord cancer.
UT
Southwestern doctors' success with treating Mr. Wiley yielded important
information that UT Southwestern physicians are already using to make treatment
shorter for other people with vocal cord tumors, said Dr. Sumer, also a member
of the Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center, the only National Cancer
Institute-designated cancer center in North Texas.
Only about
200 of these cutting-edge machines exist in the world, most of them in the
United States. Dr. Susie Chen, Assistant Professor of Radiation Oncology,
oversaw Mr. Wiley's treatments and said the unique resources, expertise, and
collaborative atmosphere at UT Southwestern aligned perfectly to break new
ground in cancer treatment and find the right solution for Mr. Wiley.
"We're
in a very unique situation at UT Southwestern where we have the tools to do it.
It takes a lot of collaboration between the surgeons and the radiation doctors
to actually get that done. The technology just hasn't been there until
recently," she said.
Patients
must be as still as possible for the Cyberknife treatment to be precise, but
vocal cords move when people breathe and swallow, presenting a challenge in
using the precision robot. Dr. Sumer injected tiny bits of gold into Mr.
Wiley's neck for the Cyberknife to track so the robotic arm could adjust to
even the slightest movements. Mr. Wiley's head also was covered with a mesh
mask that held him snug and still.
"With
the Cyberknife, it's real time. When something moves, it's actually moving. We
adjust to the movement," Dr. Chen said. "The whole time you're
getting treated, there are little x-rays that are being done that allow the
machine to lock on to these little gold markers that are placed near the vocal
cords. It's just like you're a fighter pilot, and you lock on to a
target."
Mr. Wiley
completed his 15 treatments at St. Paul University Hospital. "With the
Cyberknife, I never lost my voice and never lost any weight. It's great and I
feel great," he said.
Three other
UT Southwestern patients have since had Cyberknife treatment on vocal cord
tumors, and Dr. Chen said they have been able to reduce the number of
treatments each time as more is learned about the Cyberknife's effectiveness on
vocal cord tumors.
"What
we've done is taken a treatment that takes five and a half weeks, and we're
decreasing it," Dr. Chen said. "The true goal of this study is to
maintain excellent cure rates while decreasing the time of radiation and side
effects. That's the biggest thing -- ease for the patient."
Story
Source:
The above
story is based on materials provided by UT Southwestern
Medical Center. Note: Materials may be edited for content and
length.
Cite This
Page:
UT Southwestern Medical Center.
"Surgeons use cyberknife to treat vocal cord cancer." ScienceDaily.
ScienceDaily, 3 April 2014.
<www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/04/140403131946.htm>.