Radiation Therapy News and Research

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Radiation therapy (also called radiotherapy, x-ray therapy, or irradiation) is the use of a certain type of energy (called ionizing radiation) to kill cancer cells and shrink tumors. Radiation therapy injures or destroys cells in the area being treated (the “target tissue”) by damaging their genetic material, making it impossible for these cells to continue to grow and divide. Although radiation damages both cancer cells and normal cells, most normal cells can recover from the effects of radiation and function properly. The goal of radiation therapy is to damage as many cancer cells as possible, while limiting harm to nearby healthy tissue.

Combined treatment approach proves to be beneficial for prostate cancer patients

Practice-changing research from Cedars-Sinai Cancer shows that a combination of androgen deprivation therapy - a commonly used hormone injection - plus pelvic lymph node radiation, kept nearly 90% of clinical trial patients' prostate cancer at bay for five years.

26 May 2022

Using 'off-the-shelf' engineered stem cell based therapy for treating glioblastomas post-surgery

Glioblastomas (GBMs) are highly aggressive cancerous tumors of the brain and spinal cord. Brain cancers like GBM are challenging to treat because many cancer therapeutics cannot pass through the blood-brain barrier, and more than 90 percent of GBM tumors return after being surgically removed, despite surgery and subsequent chemo- and radiation therapy being the most successful way to treat the disease.

19 May 2022

New smoking-cessation program helps more cancer patients to quit successfully

Researchers at Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found a way to help more patients who want to stop smoking.

11 May 2022

New guideline provides guidance on the use of radiation therapy to treat patients with brain metastases

A new clinical guideline from the American Society for Radiation Oncology provides guidance on the use of radiation therapy to treat patients with brain metastases.

10 May 2022

Funding innovative technologies to revolutionize cancer research

In this interview, News-Medical interviews Michael Weingarten about his work as a director of the Small Business Innovation Research Development Center, helping to fund highly-innovative technologies that are revolutionizing cancer research.

3 May 2022

New findings show rise in racial disparities as availability of proton beam therapy increased in the U.S.

Two new large studies led by researchers at the American Cancer Society (ACS) show an increase in the use of proton beam therapy (PBT) for patients with cancer in the United States during the past decade.

27 Apr 2022

Recipients for the 2022 NCCN Foundation Young Investigator Awards Program announced

The National Comprehensive Cancer Network and the NCCN Foundation today announced seven recipients for the 2022 NCCN Foundation Young Investigator Awards (YIA) Program.

25 Apr 2022

New instrument will help Columbia scientists to study heavy ion radiation therapy

Heavy ions could radically improve radiation therapy for treatment of pancreatic cancer and other difficult-to-treat tumors if researchers can better understand how the ions work against cancer.

11 Apr 2022

Novel therapy advances to clinical trial for the treatment of glioblastoma

A novel therapy studied at the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) Cancer Center has led to a clinical trial for the treatment of glioblastoma, a rare and aggressive form of brain cancer, yet the most common primary brain tumor in adults.

10 Apr 2022

Simple interventions reduced radiation exposure to the heart during lung cancer treatment

Radiation to the heart during treatment for locally advanced lung cancer is associated with an increased risk of major adverse cardiac events within the first two years following treatment. The higher the cardiac dose exposure, the higher the risk of a cardiac event.

8 Apr 2022

Study highlights racial disparities among gastrointestinal cancer patients undergoing surgery

African-American adult patients are more likely than white patients to receive substandard gastrointestinal cancer surgery, according a large study led by researchers at Yale Cancer Center. The findings are reported today in the journal JAMA Network Open.

4 Apr 2022

Soy molasses and kudzu roots may help fight against pediatric tumors

Soy molasses and kudzu roots contain isoflavonoids with high antioxidant and cytotoxic activity, scientists have discovered.

30 Mar 2022

Smart bra can aid in early detection of breast cancer

A smart bra device developed in Nigeria can detect breast cancer early, potentially saving African women long journeys to access screening services, its inventor says.

23 Mar 2022

Trial shows safety and immunogenicity of immunotherapy with chemoradiation in cervical cancer patients

A Phase I/Ib trial conducted by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) National Clinical Trials Network (NCTN) group NRG Oncology, NRG-GY017, concluded that the addition of the immunotherapy drug atezolizumab prior to and concurrently given with chemoradiation (CRT) treatment was safe for women with node-positive, locally advanced cervical cancer.

19 Mar 2022

HRR mutational status associated with survival outcomes in recurrent platinum-sensitive ovarian cancer

Results of a biomarker analysis of the NRG Oncology NRG-GY004 trial were presented at a Seminal Session during the Society for Gynecologic Oncology's (SGO) Annual Meeting on Women's Cancer in March 2022.

19 Mar 2022

New findings could change treatment practice and lengthen survival for men with pN1 prostate cancer

Men with microscopic evidence of prostate cancer spreading to their pelvic lymph nodes (LNs) following the surgical resection of the prostate and pelvic lymph nodes (LN) are at a very high risk of dying from prostate cancer. Pelvic LN radiation therapy (RT) is a potentially curative treatment.

15 Mar 2022

Irradiation of tumors with laser protons tested for the first time

Irradiation with fast protons is a more effective and less invasive cancer treatment than X-rays. However, modern proton therapy requires large particle accelerators, which has experts investigating alternative accelerator concepts, such as laser systems to accelerate protons.

14 Mar 2022

Using metal oxide nanoparticles as 'radiosensitizers' for gentler cancer treatment

Radiation therapy is one of the cornerstones of cancer therapy. However, some types of tumor respond little or hardly at all to radiation. If it were possible to make tumor cells more sensitive, treatment would be more effective and gentler.

10 Mar 2022

Novel nanoparticles enable synergy of radiation and photodynamic therapies of deep tumor tissues

Researchers Dr Yansong Feng and Prof. Hong Zhang at the Van 't Hoff Institute for Molecular Sciences at the University of Amsterdam (UvA) have designed and synthesized novel multi-layered, multi-functional nanoparticles that enable a combination of radiotherapy and photodynamic therapy for deep cancer tissue.