Dr Danish on the Potential Use of SCINTIX Radiation Technology in Bone and Lung Tumors

Adnan F. Danish, MD, radiation oncologist, John Theurer Cancer Center, Hackensack University Medical Center, chief, the Division of Radiation Oncology, St. Joseph’s Health, discusses the methodologies behind the use of SCINTIX radiation technology in metastatic bone and lung tumors, detailing how this technology differs from computed tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans prior to treatment.

Notably, the FDA granted clearance to SCINTIX biology-guided radiotherapy in February of 2023 for patients with primary or metastatic lung and bone tumors. This clearance is supplemental to the already-cleared use of SCINTIX for intensity-modulated radiation therapy, stereotactic body radiation therapy, and stereotactic radiosurgery in all solid tumors.

With SCINTIX, clinicians can use the same radiotracer that has been used to diagnose patients’ cancer in multiple locations to then guide radiation therapy, Danish begins. This functional imaging data from the PET scans will direct personalized radiotherapy that differs from CT scans and MRIs, he says. CT scans and MRIs provide clinicians with a snapshot of where the tumor is located and what it looks like in that moment in time. This information, in conjunction with historic information about tumor motion, has been used to best understand how to deliver radiation to patients, he explains.

However, with this SCINTIX technology, as the radiotracer is taken up by the cancer, it will deliver information in real time to guide the radiation, Danish emphasizes. Therefore, SCINTIX is using functional data in comparison with just anatomic data for the treatment of patients with radiotherapy, Danish says.

This approach takes treatment to the next level, as it is more personalized for patients, Danish continues. Clinicians are moving toward the personalized treatment of cancer, as not all patients’ cancers move the same as each other or look the same as each other, he says. Clinicians will continue to take advantage of this technology to treat each patient individually, which will help to offer more precise and better care for patients, Danish concludes.