novalis?

John, I shared the Novalis info
John, I shared your info with two families on Colonclub.com and Jim replied that he has had this and found it to be a good option. I thought you might want to pm or email him so here's the link to the thread. His username is EBMJ and at this writing, his is the last in the thread.

Thread HERE

50 year old male
DX: Stage iv colon cancer, with liver mets 5/07
Colectomy 6/07, Liver resection & RFA 12/07
30+ rounds FOLFOX
Stereotactic radiation for liver met 11/08, lung mets 9/09
"Hope is a good thing, the best of things"

better than cyberknife?
John,

I just wrote on the other thread that you had addressed to me. It sounds like this is similar to cyberknife, but without the requirement of needing to insert gold feducial beads into each tumor. Avoiding that procedure prior to having this done, would make things easier to tolerate, I'm sure. I'm not positive, but am assuming that nothing needs to be inserted into the tumors because none of the articles I read about it mentioned any such thing. I mentioned to you on the other thread that I went ahead and sent an email to the contact person listed on one of the articles about it that I googled.
Also, you had mentioned you thought the minimum tumor size was 4 mm? I didn't actually read a minimum tumor size in any of the articles I found on it. It that's true, though, this would be possibly an option for me. I was told about a year ago that I'm not a cyberknife candidate because my tumors are too small (under 1 cm.)
Yeah- if this has been around for a few months at least, it is maddening that my/your oncologist hasn't mentioned it. Come to think of it, my oncologist hasn't mentioned really anything at all other than traditional chemo and has offered no new information about anything new or innovative at all, except that he mentioned to me another oncologist that I've consulted at UCSD contacted him about me about the time I was just starting Cantrell's treatment about a clinical trial I might qualify for. I will definitely be looking into that, plus I want to see if I can get hold of anyone up at USC with Dr. Lenz.

thready said:

Bit of info
John,
I found this bit of info, might want to share it with your dr. I would push on!!!

Novalis has the ability to visualize internal tissues and organs at the time of treatment with a sophisticated arrangement of infrared sensors and digital x-ray cameras. For even greater accuracy, a gold tracking seed (smaller than a grain of rice) can be placed directly within the tumor. For each daily treatment that follows, the tiniest movement of the seed is detected by Novalis. The six million volt x-ray beam is then swiftly and automatically repositioned at the click of a mouse.

from: http://www.shc.org/novalis/novalis_df.asp
They have trained physicians that can help, they are in Scottsdale
Contact info:
Learn More about Novalis
To find out if Novalis Shaped Beam Surgery is right for you or your family member, please call the Virginia G. Piper Cancer Center at 480-882-6234, 480-323-1255 or email the Cancer Care Coordinator The Cancer Care Coordinator will assist you in arranging a consultation with a Novalis-trained physician at the Scottsdale Healthcare Osborn or Shea campus.

I am learning that doctors don't know everything, and what they don't do they don't know about! We must be our best educators as you have been for so many already.
Jan

gold tracking seed
Oh, okay- so they do need to put a gold tracking seed into the tumors. Sounds like cyberknife- I wonder if it's the same, just a different machine and name, but same or very similar procedure? Maybe they can do it on smaller tumors than cyberknife though. I don't know how accurate the "no tumors under 1 cm" for cyberknife info is. As I said, that was what my former oncologist told me about a year ago. As we know, things are always changing and updating. After getting my scan results, I'll know more what I'm dealing with and will try to find out more about the requirements of both the Novalis machine and cyberknife. There's a big cyberknife center in Vista, CA here right near my onc's office. Interesting that this onc never even mentioned it as a possibility for me.

linandtom said:

Novalis - Cyberknife comparison
Here's a link that shows comparison of Novalis to Cyber and Gamma Knife. Thought this may help.
http://www.technologyofhope.com/doctors/Comparisons.htm

Just looked it up & got an email reply from local Novalis center
Hi Linda,

Thanks for the comparison link! I just looked it up and printed it out. More to take into my appt. w/ my oncologist next Monday. I was just able to move my appt up from the 22nd to the 15 to discuss my scan outcome and various options. I'm busy gathering as much info as I can, including clinical trials info from UCSD in San Diego, UCI in Irvine, CA, and USC and City of Hope in L.A.

I also got an email reply a few min. ago from the administrator at the San Diego Radiosurgery Center that is now using Novalis. She said "radiosurgery is available at several area clinics and hospitals in San Diego, however, no one has the latest technology available with the Novalis Tx system. After your PET/CT if you are still interested in coming in for a consult we would be more than happy to see you."

Lisa