ASTRO Virtual Meeting Center

Specialize in tumors of the central nervous system as neuro-radiation oncologist at M. D. Anderson Cancer Center. Trained at Harvard Joint Center for Radiation Therapy. Published in multiple journals in field of stereotactic radiosurgery and brain metastasis. Presented randomized controlled trial at ASTRO 2008 plenary session, now published in Lancet Oncology. Director of CNS Stereotactic Radiation Therapy Program at M. D. Anderson Cancer Center. Serve as co-chair on ASTRO working group to develop review and guidelines of the management of brain metastases.

Peter C. Gerszten, MD, MPH, FACS is an Associate Professor of Neurological Surgery and Radiation Oncology at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. He joined the Department of Neurological Surgery in 1999. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of Virginia and completed his medical degree at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. He completed his residency in neurological surgery at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Dr. Gerszten obtained a master of public health degree from the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health. He completed a fellowship in spinal surgery at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center as the recipient of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons� Wilder Penfield Fellowship. Dr. Gerszten specializes in disorders of the spine. Dr. Gerszten�s clinical interests include minimally invasive and percutaneous approaches to the treatment of spinal disorders, including spinal tumors. His clinical area of interest is the application of outcomes research to spinal surgical interventions. Dr. Gerszten is a pioneer in the field of spinal radiosurgery and oversees the instruction of this developing area of neurosurgery for both the American Association of Neurological Surgery as well as the Congress of Neurological Surgeons. He currently serves on the Executive Committee of the Joint Spine Section on Disorders of the Spine and Peripheral Nerves, as the Chairman of the Research and Awards Committee of the Joint Spine Section, as well as on the editorial board of The Spine Journal.

Developed first US body radiosurgery program, in 1991. Director of UCSF Linac Body Radiosurgery 1991-2003. Director of UCSF Cyberknife Radiosurgery 2003-2007. Have authored or co-authored 5 peer-reviewed publications on spine radiosurgery. Have authored or co-authored 14 abstracts on body or spine radiosurgery. Have authored or co-authored approximately 70 peer-reviewed papers on brain radiosurgery.

With the background of neurology and tumor biology, I pioneered spine radiosurgery and SBRT. Some relavent publications (chosen from total 78) are: Ryu S, Yin FF, Rock J, Ajlouni M, Zhu J, Abdulhak M, Rogers L, Rosenblum M, Kim JH. Image-guided intensity-modulated radiosurgery for spinal metastasis. Cancer 97:2013-2018, 2003 Ryu S, Khan M, Yin FF, Ajlouni M, Concus A, Benninger MS, Kim JH. Image-guided Radiosurgery of Head and Neck Cancers. Otolaryngology- Head and Neck Surgery 130:690-697, 2004 Ryu S, Rock J, Rosenblum M, Kim JH. Pattern of failure after single dose radiosurgery for single spinal metastasis. Journal of Neurosurgery 101:402-405, 2004 Ryu S, Jin JJ, Jin RY, Rock J, Ajlouni M, Movsas B, Rosenblum M, Kim JH. Partial volume tolerance of spinal cord and complication of single dose radiosurgery. Cancer 109:628-636, 2007 Ryu S, Jin JJ, Jin RY, Qing C, Rock J, Anderson J, Movsas B. Pain control by image-guided radiosurgery for solitary spinal metastasis. Journal of Pain and Symptom Management 35:292-298, 2008 Ryu S, Rock J, Jain R, Lu M, Anderson A, Jin JY, Rosenblum M, Kim JH, Movsas M. Radiosurgical Decompression of Epidural Spine Metastasis. Cancer 2009 (Under review)

Dr. Arjun Sahgal's academic interests are in the field of central nervous system tumors and stereotactic radiosurgery. In particular, I have gained expertise, and a research platform, in the treatment of spinal/paraspinous tumors while training at the University of California, San Francisco. My second major research interest is in spinal cord myelopathy, and understanding the consequence of small volumes receiving high doses to predict for organ dysfunction. I have also gained expertise in the field of prostate brachytherapy, and am currently performing high dose rate prostate brachytherapy.

I have been involved in the development of image-guided stereotactic body radiosurgery for spinal tumors at MDACC using LINAC/CT-on-Rails delivery system since 2003. We have published our technique at IJROBP 57:605-613, 11/2003. Additionally, we have improved our technique by integrating a 6D robotic couch to our LINAC/CT-on-Rails unit. The significant improvement of this approach was not only so we could apply 6D correction based on our 3D-3D image registration automatically, we could also setup the patients on the same treatment couch in the beginning of acquiring the planning CT images. Furthermore, we have analyzed our patient�s treatment from clinical outcome and post treatment dosimetric evaluation to further quantify our IGRT technique. Subsequently, three papers were published at IJROBP. We have further developed our spinal SBRT technique using CBCT. We have received grant supports from cancer foundation and sponsored research agreement. We also engage a collaborative effort among multiple institutions for the spine planning study for the various IGRT treatment delivery systems. The selected publications are listed in the following: 1) Shiu AS, Chang EL, Ye JS, Lii M, Rhines LD, Mendel E, Weinberg J, Singh S, Maor MH, Mohan R, Cox JD. Near simultaneous computed tomography image-guided stereotactic spinal radiotherapy: an emerging paradigm for achieving true stereotaxy. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 57:605-13, PMID: 14529763, 11/2003; 2) Chang EL, Shiu AS, Lii MF, Rhines LD, Mendel E, Mahajan A, Weinberg JS, Mathews LA, Brown BW, Maor MH, Cox JD. Phase I clinical evaluation of near-simultaneous computed tomographic image-guided stereotactic body radiotherapy for spinal metastases. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 59:1288-94, PMID: 15275711, 8/2004; 3) Shiu AS, Wang C, Woo S, Wang H. Image-guided Non-Invasive Stereotactic Radiosurgery. International Conference on Quality Assurance and New Technology in Radiation Medicine. IAEA-CN 146:18-19, 2006; 4) Wang C, Shiu AS, Lii M, Chang EL. Automatic Target Localization and Verification for On-Line Image-Guided Stereotactic Body Radiotherapy of the Spine. Technology in Cancer Research & Treatment 6:187-196, 3/2007; 5) Chang EL, Shiu AS, Mendel E, Mathews LA, Mahajan A, Allen PK, Weinberg JS, Brown BW, Wang XS, Woo SY, Cleeland C, Maor MH, Rhines LD. Phase I/II study of stereotactic body radiation therapy for spinal metastasis and its pattern of failure. Neurosurgery 7:151-160, 2007; and 6) Wang H, Shiu A, Wang C, O�Daniel J, Mahajan A, Woo S, Liengswangwong M, Mohan R, Chang EL. Dosimetric effect of translational and rotational errors for patients undergoing image-guided stereotactic body radiotherapy for spinal metastases. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 2008 (In press).