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.

Precisely targeted prostate cancer radiotherapy possible with nuclear medicine imaging

Current standard imaging techniques for initial staging of prostate cancer often underestimate the extent of disease beyond the prostate.

9 Nov 2018

Study uses gold nanoparticles to remove prostate cancer cells

A small clinical trial using gold nanoparticles that act as tumor-seeking missiles on a mission to remove prostate cancer has begun at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth). It is the first trial of its kind in the world.

9 Nov 2018

Advances in radiation treatment help prolong, improve lives of people with anal cancer

Two recent studies find advances in radiation therapy are helping to prolong or improve the lives of people with anal cancer, including those whose cancer has advanced to stage IV.

8 Nov 2018

New Penn Medicine Center offers hope in the fight against glioblastoma

Today, Penn Medicine is announcing the newest Translational Center of Excellence in the Abramson Cancer Center, focused on Glioblastoma Multiforme, the most common and lethal form of brain cancer.

30 Oct 2018

Patients receiving individual doses and conventional breast radiation experience similar side effects

In a 10-year study of women who received radiation therapy to treat early-stage breast cancer, those receiving fewer, larger individual doses experienced similarly low rates of late-onset side effects as those undergoing conventional radiation therapy. Findings from the multi-institutional U.K. FAST clinical trial were presented last week at the 60th Annual Meeting of the American Society for Radiation Oncology.

30 Oct 2018

Radiation therapy can lower risk of breast cancer recurrence in patients with ‘good risk’ DCIS

A subset of patients with low-risk breast cancer is highly unlikely to see cancer return following breast conservation surgery but can lower that risk even further with radiation therapy, finds a new long-term clinical trial report.

30 Oct 2018

Aggressive local therapy for stage IV lung cancer patients improves progression-free survival

Adding radiation therapy or surgery to systemic therapy for stage IV lung cancer patients whose cancer has spread to a limited number of sites can extend overall survival time significantly, according to new results from a multicenter, randomized, controlled phase II study. The findings were presented last week at the 60th Annual Meeting of the American Society for Radiation Oncology

30 Oct 2018

Stroke 'mimics' and 'chameleons' can complicate accurate diagnoses

Stroke specialists often see conditions known as stroke "mimics" and "chameleons" that can complicate accurate diagnoses, Loyola Medicine neurologists report in the November 2018 issue of Neuroimaging Clinics of North America.

26 Oct 2018

MIT researchers devise way to help blood cells regenerate after radiation therapy

Patients with blood cancers such as leukemia and lymphoma are often treated by irradiating their bone marrow to destroy the diseased cells. After the treatment, patients are vulnerable to infection and fatigue until new blood cells grow back.

24 Oct 2018

Hippocampal-avoidance whole-brain radiotherapy better preserves patients' cognitive function

When it comes to radiation therapy to treat brain cancer, hippocampal-avoidance whole-brain radiotherapy in conjunction with the drug memantine better preserved patients' cognitive function and demonstrated similar cancer control outcomes, compared to traditional whole-brain radiotherapy with memantine.

24 Oct 2018

Scientists develop nanodevice to deliver immunotherapy without side effects

Houston Methodist scientists have developed a nanodevice to deliver immunotherapy without side effects to treat triple-negative breast cancer.

24 Oct 2018

Hippocampal avoidance during whole-brain radiotherapy reduces risk of cognitive decline

Whole-brain radiotherapy can be delivered more safely to patients with brain metastases by avoiding the hippocampus according to a randomized phase III NRG Oncology trial presented at the American Society for Radiation Oncology Annual Meeting.

23 Oct 2018

New liquid biopsy test confirms remission in patients with HPV-associated oropharyngeal cancer

A highly sensitive blood test that detects minute traces of cancer-specific DNA has been shown to accurately determine whether patients with HPV-related oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma are free from cancer following radiation therapy.

23 Oct 2018

Cancer treatment may undergo a paradigm shift to immunotherapy soon

Immunotherapy when used for cancer treatment could extend life longer finds studies. Experts have explained that until now immunotherapy was reserved as a last resort for most patients and treatment usually comprised of chemotherapy and radiation therapy failing which these were tried. In a pair of clinical trials, researchers have found that using immunotherapy as first line treatment can extend lives of these cancer patients.

23 Oct 2018

Prostate radiotherapy improves survival in men with low burden of metastatic disease

Radiotherapy to the prostate improves overall survival in men newly diagnosed with metastatic prostate cancer who have a low metastatic disease burden but not in those with higher burden of disease, according to results from a pre-planned analysis of a large comparison study reported at ESMO 2018.

22 Oct 2018

Brainlab unveils ExacTrac Dynamic at ASTRO meeting in San Antonio, Texas

Brainlab unveils ExacTrac Dynamic at the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) meeting in San Antonio, Texas.

From Elekta 22 Oct 2018

Radiotherapy can prolong survival in prostate cancer

A new major study from London has shown that radiotherapy can extend survival among patients with prostate cancer. The study shows that larger number of patients given standard therapy along with radiation therapy survived three years after the initiation of the study despite having a local spread of their cancer.

21 Oct 2018

Patients once thought incurable can benefit from high-dose radiation therapy

In the first randomized, phase II clinical trial of its kind, researchers have shown that an aggressive form of high-precision radiation therapy can greatly increase how long oligometastatic patients live and doubles how long they live without cancer.

17 Oct 2018

Training young researchers to work with data volumes arising in the health sector

Investigation, diagnosis, and treatment of diseases give rise to big data volumes. Their systematic analysis may produce new findings for the diagnosis and therapy of diseases, such as cancer.

17 Oct 2018

Notable improvement in brain cancer survival among younger patients but not much for elderly

A new study from Helsinki University Hospital, University of Helsinki and the Finnish Cancer Registry shows that survival after glioblastoma has improved since the millennium. The improvement in survival was, however, modest in elderly patients, raising concerns whether current treatment strategies are optimal for this patient group.

16 Oct 2018

Radiation Therapy News and Research

Further Reading

Precisely targeted prostate cancer radiotherapy possible with nuclear medicine imaging

Study uses gold nanoparticles to remove prostate cancer cells

Advances in radiation treatment help prolong, improve lives of people with anal cancer

New Penn Medicine Center offers hope in the fight against glioblastoma

Patients receiving individual doses and conventional breast radiation experience similar side effects

Radiation therapy can lower risk of breast cancer recurrence in patients with ‘good risk’ DCIS

Aggressive local therapy for stage IV lung cancer patients improves progression-free survival

Stroke 'mimics' and 'chameleons' can complicate accurate diagnoses

MIT researchers devise way to help blood cells regenerate after radiation therapy

Hippocampal-avoidance whole-brain radiotherapy better preserves patients' cognitive function

Scientists develop nanodevice to deliver immunotherapy without side effects

Hippocampal avoidance during whole-brain radiotherapy reduces risk of cognitive decline

New liquid biopsy test confirms remission in patients with HPV-associated oropharyngeal cancer

Cancer treatment may undergo a paradigm shift to immunotherapy soon

Prostate radiotherapy improves survival in men with low burden of metastatic disease

Brainlab unveils ExacTrac Dynamic at ASTRO meeting in San Antonio, Texas

Radiotherapy can prolong survival in prostate cancer

Patients once thought incurable can benefit from high-dose radiation therapy

Training young researchers to work with data volumes arising in the health sector

Notable improvement in brain cancer survival among younger patients but not much for elderly

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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