Hospital Unveils Tool to ‘Sculpt’ Tumor Radiation

Doctors at Childrens Hospital unveiled new radiation technology Tuesday that they say will greatly enhance their ability to fight tumors.

The recently acquired Millennium 120-Leaf Collimator is the latest high-precision device for zapping tumor cells with radiation. Because it is linked to cutting-edge computer software, doctors at Childrens Hospital say it could reduce treatment time by a third and yield higher cure rates.

“Much like an artist sculpts clay,” said Dr. Arthur Olch, the hospital’s chief radiation physicist, “we can now sculpt the radiation treatment within the patient.”

Seven-year-old Eric Sandoval became one of the first beneficiaries of the new technology after doctors discovered that leukemia cells had caused his spleen to swell to four times its normal size.

Tuesday morning, Eric lay motionless while a radiation beam from the hospital’s linear accelerator pinpointed the cancerous cells. Dr. Robert Lavey, the hospital’s head of radiation oncology, said he expects Eric to return to normal activity within a week.

Lavey said the new technology to improve precision in aiming radiation beams will allow doctors to apply higher doses of radiation, because the beams can now more carefully avoid the healthy tissue surrounding a tumor.

The computer software, produced in the Netherlands and not yet commercially available in this country, “goes through calculations to determine the optimum radiation intensity,” Lavey said. “The computer changes the shape of the radiation field during the treatment. We can deliver different doses to different areas.”

Lavey hopes that will translate into accelerated treatment for children.