Doctors zap cancer with video game-inspired device

A breakthrough cancer treatment device in Cape Girardeau -- one of only 29 in the country -- owes its existence to a teenager with a penchant for video games.

The Novalis shaped-beam-surgery device has proven itself to be invaluable for certain cancer patients and patients with non-malignant tumors.

According to Joyce Nicklaus, a clinical coordinator for the Novalis Center within the Regional Cancer Center's radiation therapy department, the software-driven technology is able to pinpoint a high dose of radiation to conform with the shape of a patient's tumor.

The device is guided by software that can calculate the ideal access points to the tumor and define the treatment plan, regardless of how irregular the tumor may be.

Novalis is non-invasive and virtually painless. It allows a complete treatment session to take place in a single day for most patients. During treatment Novalis moves around the patient's body so that radiation penetrates the tumor or lesion from different angles. Because it is so precise it delivers the maximum radiation therapy to the tumor without damaging nearby tissue.

The technology that brought about Novalis started in Vienna, Austria, where Stefan Vilsmeier, who enjoyed video games, began writing programs for the games. A physician noticed his software, Nicklaus said, recognized his genius and challenged him to use his computer knowledge for a higher purpose.

Vilsmeier took the doctor's advice, and now he is head of BrainLAB, founded in 1989 and the company behind the Novalis system.

Donna Dotzert of Cape Girardeau was being treated for cancer of the thorax when doctors discovered two brain tumors earlier this year. She had a one-day Novalis treatment in late April and has seen her tumors shrink.

"The two-inch tumor has shrunk by two-thirds and the one-inch tumor has shrunk by half," she said. "My neurosurgeon said if I had not had this treatment, I would have had four weeks to live."

Because she was sedated at the time, Dotzert said she remembers only that the procedure was painless. A metal "halo" was affixed to her head to hold her motionless while the Novalis zeroed in on her tumors.

"I remember those beams of light coming to my head," she recalled. "I didn't feel a thing; it zapped me on both sides and that was it."

Before Novalis, patients with brain tumors might have had to undergo 30 or 40 radiation treatments.

"We can do one-day treatment with brain tumors," Nicklaus said. "Novalis can pinpoint the tumor and always hit it precisely. With brain tumors it can hit lesions with 1/2 millimeter accuracy."

Patients with other forms of cancer benefit from Novalis treatment, but sometimes have to undergo a series of treatments rather than just one. James Beaird of Dexter traveled 120 miles round trip every day for more than six weeks so he could have 33 Novalis treatments for lung cancer. Each day Beaird settled into what looked like a sleeping bag that had been shaped to his body so the Novalis could accurately send its beam to exactly where it needed to go on Beaird's lungs.

A two-pack-a-day smoker for about 40 years, Beaird said doctors found his cancer when he was hospitalized a year ago for double pneumonia. He said he has had chemotherapy and radiation treatment, and likes Novalis because the treatments are quick -- 30 minutes each day -- and they leave no side effects.

The Novalis equipment cost more than $3 million. Southeast Missouri Hospital bought it when neurosurgeon Dr. Scott Gibbs realized the benefit of having one, Nicklaus said, and began working toward building the staff qualified to use it and getting the first such machine in the Midwest. Patients come not only from Southeast Missouri, but from surrounding states for treatment because Novalis is not available in St. Louis or Kansas City yet.

"We were fortunate enough to have an older machine we could exchange and the space that could be a fit for the Novalis," Nicklaus said.

lredeffer@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 160