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Chest and Abdomen

Early Lung Cancer (medically inoperable)

When lung cancer is caught at an early stage, it is curable with surgery in over 50 percent of cases. Standard treatment is surgical removal of the tumor and possibly of the entire lung. Some patients with severe heart or lung disease are unable to undergo such an operation. Traditionally, these patients have been offered conventional radiotherapy, with published results being inferior to those of surgery. We are utilizing proton beam radiation for such patients in an effort to increase the dose delivered to the tumor while minimizing the damage to the surrounding normal heart and lung. Computed tomography studies show that proton radiation is able to help restrict the volume of normal lung tissue damaged by radiation. Preliminary clinical results suggest that this treatment yields good rates of local tumor control while minimizing lung injury.