From what I heard previously, glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is essentially untreatable, except by BNCT (Boron-Neutron Capture Therapy), and this treatment usually involves a single, or at most two therapeutic doses (this being one of BNCT's claimed advantages).
This article seems to suggest application to more standard type of gamma radiation therapy, which is not suitable to GBM, but might well be to other types of cancer.
Moreover, as a previously posted article (below) suggests, even for standard type of gamma radiation therapy, the trend is towards reducing the number of doses, possibly to a single dose.
Jaro
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Stanford Trial Studies Vastly Shorter Radiation Time for Breast Cancer Treatment
STANFORD, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 20, 2002--A new radiation
approach being tested at Stanford University Medical Center could
shorten the overall treatment time for women with breast cancer.
Participants will receive a single dose of radiation at the time of
surgery rather than the usual six-week course of radiation therapy.
The clinical trial is now recruiting patients.
"The trial should tell us whether this accelerated form of
radiotherapy is safe, feasible and effective in controlling cancer
recurrence in the breast for certain women who have a lumpectomy,"
said Frederick Dirbas, MD, assistant professor of surgical oncology
at the Stanford School of Medicine and leader of the trial.
Women with a breast tumor often have a lumpectomy, surgery in which
the doctor removes only the cancerous region, leaving the rest of the
breast intact. The patient then receives a dose of radiation to the
entire breast each weekday for about the next six weeks to minimize
the risk of cancer returning.
"The fact that current radiation treatments occur every day for
several weeks makes it an issue for women," Dirbas said, adding that
the schedule can be inconvenient for women who work, care for young
children or live far from the treatment site. He said the idea
behind this prolonged schedule was that women would experience fewer
side effects if the total radiation dose was broken into smaller increments.
In recent years, however, doctors in the United States and Europe
have begun looking at approaches to shorten the overall treatment
time while still fending off cancer. In one Italian trial with more
than 100 participants, patients received a single large dose of radiation
at the same time as the surgery. Two years after the initial surgery,
the treatment appears to be safe and effective.
Based on this success, Dirbas and Donald Goffinet, MD, professor of
radiation oncology, are replicating the Italian trial -- the first
U.S. trial of this technique. They hope to recruit 50 women who are
older than 40, have a single breast tumor that is smaller than 2.5
centimeters and have a low likelihood of tumors elsewhere in the breast.
For information about participating in the trial, please call Janelle
Maxwell at (650) 498-7740.
Stanford University Medical Center integrates research, medical
education and patient care at its three institutions -- Stanford
University School of Medicine, Stanford Hospital & Clinics and Lucile
Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford. For more information, please
visit the Web site of the medical center's Office of Communication &
Public Affairs at http://mednews.stanford.edu.
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Transplant Drug Could Aid Radiation
By EMMA ROSS
.c The Associated Press
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) - Researchers have discovered that a drug normally used to prevent the rejection of kidney transplants might improve radiation therapy by keeping cancer tumors from growing between doses.
<SNIP>