The Future of Radiation Oncology and Pancreatic Cancer

Pancreatic cancer has been a lethal malignancy for too long. Available cytotoxic therapies for advanced disease are modestly effective with a 5-year survival rate, less than 15%, but new modalities using ablative radiation therapy holds promise in improving outcomes. Reports of ablative radiation therapy for pancreatic cancer using the 0.35 Tesla, MR Linac have resulted in promising local control and overall survival with no severe toxicity in patients with locally advanced pancreatic cancer despite radio-sensitive organs adjacent to the target volumes. Global testing has found a wide variation in treatment planning protocols for pancreatic tumors with MR-guided SBRT on a 0.35 Tesla MR-Linac. Presenters: Kathryn Mittauer, PhD, DABR, Senior Medical Physicist with Baptist Health Miami Cancer Institute & Associate Professor at Florida International University Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine. Adeel Kaiser, M.D., Board-certified radiation oncologist at Baptist Health Miami Cancer Institute and clinical associate professor at Florida International University Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine.