WASHINGTON - Physicians say patients with early stage lung cancer who are not able to undergo surgery now have a highly effective treatment option.

Lung cancer is the leading cancer killer in the U.S. and 82-year-old Oscar Reynolds wanted no part of it. But like many lung cancer patients, Reynolds wasn't a candidate for surgery. Instead, four years ago he had a new treatment at Georgetown University Hospital called radiosurgery. A machine called Cyberknife delivered radiation through a laser with pinpoint accuracy.

"You can deliver the radiation to the tumor with very little radiation to the lung," said radiation oncologist Dr. Brian Collins.

Reynolds, a World War II veteran, said the worst thing about the non-invasive procedure is that he had to lay on a gurney for up an hour during each of his three sessions. He said he experienced no pain and no side effects.

"You get up, get dressed, get in your car and drive home," said Reynolds.

A study on this treatment found a 100-percent survival rate after three years in patients with good lung function before treatment. Collins says this massive device has so greatly improved the outcomes of radiation that some patients are now far better off with radiaation than with surgery.

Collins stated, "It's a major step forward for the treatment of lung cancer."

Reynolds is grateful for time he now gets to spend with his wife and extended family that includes 12 grand and great-grandchildren. The former smoker of 50 years now tells just about everyone he meets to quit.

Unlike breast or prostate cancer, there is currently no screening test for lung cancer that would let doctors find it in its early and most curable stage.

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