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.

No added risks to radiation therapy for cancer patients with COVID-19, says study

A team of radiation oncologists at the Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell in the United States aimed to determine if COVID-19 infected cancer patients receiving radiation therapy (RT) have any different outcome than non-infected patients.

17 Dec 2020

Genomic and immune indicators can help identify prostate cancer patients at high risk of lethal outcomes

Prostate cancer is one of the most common cancers among men in the United States. One in nine men will be diagnosed during his lifetime.

15 Dec 2020

Single-dose radiation therapy may lessen, eliminate unsafe additional outside trips during the pandemic

According to recent studies, an increase in the COVID-19 positivity rate correlates to an increase in mortality from non-coronavirus-related diseases.

14 Dec 2020

Physicians don't always recognize radiation therapy side effects in cancer patients

Physicians did not recognize side effects from radiation therapy in more than half of breast cancer patients who reported a significant symptom, a new study finds.

9 Dec 2020

Omitting postoperative radiation therapy did not compromise survival for older HR-positive breast cancer patients

Older patients with hormone receptor-positive breast cancer who did not receive radiation therapy after breast-conserving surgery had higher rates of local recurrence but similar 10-year survival rates when compared to patients who received postoperative radiation therapy, according to updated 10-year data from the PRIME II study, presented at the 2020 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, held Dec. 8-11.

9 Dec 2020

Symptom under-recognition may be common in breast cancer patients treated with radiotherapy

Among patients with breast cancer treated with radiotherapy, under-recognition of symptoms was common in reports of pain, pruritus, edema, and fatigue, with younger patients and Black patients having significantly increased odds of symptom under-recognition, according to data presented at the 2020 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, held Dec. 8-11.

9 Dec 2020

Repair protein may prevent damage to healthy cells during cancer therapy

A key way radiation therapy and chemotherapy work is by making highly lethal double-strand breaks in the DNA of cancer cells.

9 Dec 2020

Targeting senescent 'zombie' cells may improve survival in women with cervical cancer

How well women with cervical cancer respond to treatment and survive correlates with the level of 10 proteins in their blood that also are associated with a "zombie" cell state called senescence, Medical College of Georgia scientists report.

7 Dec 2020

First PSMA-targeted PET imaging drug approved for men with prostate cancer

Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Gallium 68 PSMA-11 (Ga 68 PSMA-11) - the first drug for positron emission tomography (PET) imaging of prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) positive lesions in men with prostate cancer.

1 Dec 2020

Machine learning model identifies which drug combinations kill tumor cells

When healthcare professionals treat patients suffering from advanced cancers, they usually need to use a combination of different therapies. In addition to cancer surgery, the patients are often treated with radiation therapy, medication, or both.

1 Dec 2020

Gut microbiota directly shapes the makeup of human immune system, shows study

MSK researchers have uncovered an important finding about the relationship between the microbiota and the immune system, showing for the first time that the concentration of different types of immune cells in the blood changes in relation to the presence of different bacterial strains in the gut.

1 Dec 2020

Cost of prostate cancer treatment can be a major source of stress for men, their families

For men with early-stage prostate cancer, choices about initial treatment carry varying risks of "financial toxicity," reports a study in The Journal of Urology®, Official Journal of the American Urological Association (AUA). The journal is published in the Lippincott portfolio by Wolters Kluwer.

1 Dec 2020

Cell survival protein could protect kidneys from damage caused by cancer therapies

Australian researchers have identified a protein that could protect the kidneys from 'bystander' damage caused by cancer therapies.

25 Nov 2020

Septic shock and pneumonia triggered by SARS-CoV-2 could be treated by radiation-activated MSCs

This study, published in the journal Cells, is based on others (all of which employed experimental models) previously conducted by researchers at the Biomedical Research Centre of the University of Granada, the ‘López-Neyra’ Institute of Parasitology and Biomedicine, and the ‘Virgen de las Nieves’ University Hospital in Granada

23 Nov 2020

Researchers assess the risk of proton therapy for children with brain tumors

Adelaide is poised to open Australia's first proton therapy center in 2025, with children and young adults expected to be the main beneficiaries of more effective cancer treatment with fewer side effects.

12 Nov 2020

IU researcher awarded NCI grant to develop a drug for making radiation therapy more effective

An Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center researcher has been awarded a five-year, $2.9 million grant from the National Cancer Institute to develop a drug that could make radiation therapy far more effective.

11 Nov 2020

Biodegradable 3D-printed esophageal stents for treating radiation esophagitis

Radiation esophagitis, characterized by the inflammation of the esophagus, is the most common acute adverse effect of radiation therapy that causes swallowing problems.

10 Nov 2020

High Throughput Identification and Quantification of Breast Cancer With NMR-Based Metabolomics

Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related death among the female population globally, despite the ever-growing technology of early detection.

From Bruker BioSpin Group 30 Oct 2020

High dose radiation therapy linked to shorter survival times in NSCLC patients

A genetic analysis of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients on the phase III NRG Oncology RTOG 0617 clinical trial assessing radiation dose discovered that high dose radiation therapy is associated with shorter survival times among patients with a radiation-sensitive genotype in DNA repair pathway.

29 Oct 2020

Researchers report outcomes of salvage low dose RT brachytherapy after EBRT for prostate cancer

Researchers involved in the phase II NRG Oncology RTOG 0526 trial studying low dose rate (LDR) prostate brachytherapy (BT) following local recurrence (LR) after external beam radiotherapy (EBRT) for patients with low-to-intermediate risk prostate cancer reported late Grade 3 gastrointestinal and genitourinary adverse events (AEs) occurring in 14% of trial participants.

28 Oct 2020

Radiation Therapy News and Research

Further Reading

No added risks to radiation therapy for cancer patients with COVID-19, says study

Genomic and immune indicators can help identify prostate cancer patients at high risk of lethal outcomes

Single-dose radiation therapy may lessen, eliminate unsafe additional outside trips during the pandemic

Physicians don't always recognize radiation therapy side effects in cancer patients

Omitting postoperative radiation therapy did not compromise survival for older HR-positive breast cancer patients

Symptom under-recognition may be common in breast cancer patients treated with radiotherapy

Repair protein may prevent damage to healthy cells during cancer therapy

Targeting senescent 'zombie' cells may improve survival in women with cervical cancer

First PSMA-targeted PET imaging drug approved for men with prostate cancer

Machine learning model identifies which drug combinations kill tumor cells

Gut microbiota directly shapes the makeup of human immune system, shows study

Cost of prostate cancer treatment can be a major source of stress for men, their families

Cell survival protein could protect kidneys from damage caused by cancer therapies

Septic shock and pneumonia triggered by SARS-CoV-2 could be treated by radiation-activated MSCs

Researchers assess the risk of proton therapy for children with brain tumors

IU researcher awarded NCI grant to develop a drug for making radiation therapy more effective

Biodegradable 3D-printed esophageal stents for treating radiation esophagitis

High Throughput Identification and Quantification of Breast Cancer With NMR-Based Metabolomics

High dose radiation therapy linked to shorter survival times in NSCLC patients

Researchers report outcomes of salvage low dose RT brachytherapy after EBRT for prostate cancer

Evaluating new approaches for rare disease genomics

Expanding access to NMR with the Fourier 80 Duo

Advancing Intracellular Delivery with LumiPore®

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