Dattatreyudu Nori, MD

An estimated 157,000 patients died of lung cancer in the United States in the year 2000.[1] Although surgery can be curative, only about 20% of patients are amenable to complete surgical resection. Most of the other patients are treated with radiation

In this comprehensive review of a pilot study, Dr. Harrison and colleagues at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) describe a new intraoperative radiation treatment, its technical details, early results, and complications. This new treatment, high-dose-rate intraoperative radiotherapy using a remote afterloading technique (HDR-IORT), is being explored in a number of major centers in the United States and abroad. My comments below will focus on Dr. Harrison's technique. In addition, data from the MSKCC pilot study as well as information from other centers are summarized in Tables 1 and 2.