What's New

Advances in Radiation Therapy

Medical physicists at the Vancouver Centre have developed a revolutionary technology that will enable cancer patients to receive faster and more precise radiation therapy. The new technology, Volumetric Modulated arc Therapy (VMAT) allows a patient to receive radiation treatment with a single 360º rotation of the radiation beam around the body, a technique that has never been accomplished before.

“This provides more flexibility in maximizing the dose of radiation targeting the tumour, while minimizing damage to surrounding healthy tissue,” explains Dr. Karl Otto, BC Cancer Agency medical physicist who spearheaded this technology. “With the ability to deliver radiation continuously for an entire treatment session, VMAT is two to eight times faster than comparable techniques.”

While VMAT is not available to the general patient population at this time, a number of patients will participate in a BC Cancer Agency pilot study to evaluate the technology.

Breakthroughs in Ovarian Cancer Research

Dr. David Huntsman, a genetic pathologist and researcher, heads the Centre for Translational and Applied Genomics, located on the third floor of the Vancouver Cancer Centre. He is also the leader of the OvCaRe (ovarian cancer research) team, a partnership between BC Cancer Agency and Vancouver General Hospital researchers. BC Cancer Foundation donors were instrumental in providing funding for this initiative, which has made the following breakthroughs in our understanding of ovarian cancer.

• Not one but many diseases – Dr. Huntsman and his fellow researchers believe that ovarian cancer is not a single disease with different manifestations, but many completely different diseases that happen to appear in the same part of the body. This understanding will help researchers develop new treatments for these specific subtypes of ovarian cancer in the future.
• Ovarian cancer may originate in fallopian tubes – recent research suggests that the most common form of ovarian cancer may actually originate in the fallopian tubes, not in the ovaries. This discovery will inform future prevention and screening strategies for ovarian cancer.