diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index fdc6d91f..a53887e3 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ dependencies = [
   "pydantic",
   "protobuf==6.31.1",
   "dijkstar==2.6.0",
-  "lattica==1.0.4",
+  "lattica==1.0.6",
 ]
 
 [project.scripts]
diff --git a/src/backend/server/request_handler.py b/src/backend/server/request_handler.py
index 36354bcb..b32b188a 100644
--- a/src/backend/server/request_handler.py
+++ b/src/backend/server/request_handler.py
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 
 import aiohttp
 from fastapi.responses import JSONResponse, StreamingResponse
+from starlette.concurrency import iterate_in_threadpool
 
 from backend.server.constants import NODE_STATUS_AVAILABLE
 from parallax_utils.logging_config import get_logger
@@ -92,29 +93,41 @@ async def _forward_request(self, request_data: Dict, request_id: str, received_t
         request_data["routing_table"] = routing_table
         stub = self.get_stub(routing_table[0])
         is_stream = request_data.get("stream", False)
-
-        if is_stream:
-
-            def stream_generator():
-                for chunk in stub.chat_completion(request_data):
-                    yield chunk
-
-            resp = StreamingResponse(
-                stream_generator(),
-                media_type="text/event-stream",
-                headers={
-                    "X-Content-Type-Options": "nosniff",
-                    "Cache-Control": "no-cache",
-                },
+        try:
+            if is_stream:
+
+                async def stream_generator():
+                    response = stub.chat_completion(request_data)
+                    try:
+                        iterator = iterate_in_threadpool(response)
+                        async for chunk in iterator:
+                            yield chunk
+                    finally:
+                        logger.debug(f"client disconnected for {request_id}")
+                        response.cancel()
+
+                resp = StreamingResponse(
+                    stream_generator(),
+                    media_type="text/event-stream",
+                    headers={
+                        "X-Content-Type-Options": "nosniff",
+                        "Cache-Control": "no-cache",
+                    },
+                )
+                logger.debug(f"Streaming response initiated for {request_id}")
+                return resp
+            else:
+                response = stub.chat_completion(request_data)
+                response = next(response).decode()
+                logger.debug(f"Non-stream response completed for {request_id}")
+                # response is a JSON string; parse to Python object before returning
+                return JSONResponse(content=json.loads(response))
+        except Exception as e:
+            logger.exception(f"Error in _forward_request: {e}")
+            return JSONResponse(
+                content={"error": "Internal server error"},
+                status_code=500,
             )
-            logger.debug(f"Streaming response initiated for {request_id}")
-            return resp
-        else:
-            response = stub.chat_completion(request_data)
-            response = next(response).decode()
-            logger.debug(f"Non-stream response completed for {request_id}")
-            # response is a JSON string; parse to Python object before returning
-            return JSONResponse(content=json.loads(response))
 
     async def v1_chat_completions(self, request_data: Dict, request_id: str, received_ts: int):
         return await self._forward_request(request_data, request_id, received_ts)