Researchers say they are perfecting a breath-holding technique that will allow cancer patients to stay completely still during extended radiotherapy sessions.
Dr Mike Parkes of the University of Birmingham, UK, and his team looked at ways of allowing cancer patients to hold their breath more easily. They created a method of increasing oxygen levels in the lungs and removing carbon dioxide from the blood, allowing patients to hold their breath for several four-minute intervals.
They tested it on 30 male and female young adult volunteers, who were given oxygen-enriched air to breathe, and had their blood carbon dioxide levels lowered via a mechanical ventilator attached by a facemask.
Participants could safely hold their breath for about six minutes, with practice over several days. The researchers believe it should be possible for patients to hold their breath for about 13 minutes over three breath-holds, in a 20 minute treatment session, or 41 minutes (nine breath-holds) in a 65-minute session.
The research is published today (18 September) in Radiotherapy and Oncology. It will benefit patients with tumours in their chest and abdomen, say the team.
“Radiotherapy is still a key treatment for tackling cancer, but success depends at least in part on patients being able to remain as still as possible while the treatment is ongoing,” said Dr Parkes. “This is a particular challenge for patients being treated for cancers in the chest and abdomen. These regions can move up to 4cm each time a breath is taken, limiting the accuracy of the radiotherapy.
“People often believe that it’s only really possible to hold your breath safely for between 30 seconds and a minute, but in fact there are no risks to a five-minute breath hold under carefully controlled clinical conditions.”
Parkes, M. et al. The feasibility, safety and optimization of multiple prolonged breath-holds for radiotherapy. Radiotherapy and Oncology 18 September 2019
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