Radiotherapy News and Research

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Radiation therapy (in North America), or radiotherapy (in the UK and Australia) also called radiation oncology, and sometimes abbreviated to XRT, is the medical use of ionizing radiation as part of cancer treatment to control malignant cells (not to be confused with radiology, the use of radiation in medical imaging and diagnosis).

UNSW set to become home to world’s first pre-production prototype of high resolution microscope

Cancer researchers in NSW will now have access to a range of cutting edge technology, including a world-first super-resolution microscope at UNSW, thanks a $4 million investment by the Cancer Institute NSW.

13 Sep 2016

Using the immune system to fight cancer: an interview with Dr Charles Akle

We all produce as many as 100,000 different types of cancer cells every day, which are recognized and eliminated by our extraordinarily efficient immune system. However, if something goes wrong with the immune system, and it no longer gets rid of these cells, then that’s when cancerous cells grow and become a problem.

12 Sep 2016

Whole brain radiotherapy offers no quality-of-life benefit in lung cancer patients with brain metastases

People with the most common type of lung cancer whose disease has spread to the brain could be spared potentially harmful whole brain radiotherapy, according to new research published in The Lancet.

6 Sep 2016

NICE MIB offers SD-IORT using Xoft Axxent electronic brachytherapy system for early stage breast cancer patients

NICE (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) has announced a new Medtech Innovation Briefing (MIB) stating that NHS doctors and commissioners may consider Single Dose Intraoperative Radiotherapy (SD-IORT) using the Xoft Axxent electronic brachytherapy system with ORL managed service as a treatment option for early stage breast cancer patients.

6 Sep 2016

Study collects data on 30-day mortality for breast, lung cancer patients after SACT to improve patient care

For the first time, national data on 30-day mortality for patients with breast and lung cancer treated with chemotherapy have been collected and analysed in order to help clinical teams review and improve patient care, and identify groups of patients who may have additional needs.

31 Aug 2016

Research findings could lead to new biomarker for early stages of tumor development

To treat or not to treat? That is the question researchers at the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory hope to answer with a new advance that could help doctors and their cancer patients decide if a particular therapy would be worth pursuing.

31 Aug 2016

KU Leuven researchers use microbubbles to evaluate effectiveness of cancer radiation treatment

An interdisciplinary team of researchers at KU Leuven (University of Leuven), Belgium, have developed a new way to evaluate whether a cancer radiation treatment is effective.

30 Aug 2016

Genetic test may be able to predict need for chemotherapy in early-stage breast cancer

Patients with early stage breast cancer who have a low genetic risk of disease recurrence may not need to have chemotherapy, report researchers.

25 Aug 2016

Colorectal tumors present epigenetic heterogeneity, study finds

A new study led by Dr. Manel Esteller, Director of the Epigenetics and Cancer Biology Program of Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute, ICREA researcher and Professor of Genetics at University of Barcelona discovers that colorectal tumors present epigenetic heterogeneity that relates to the clinical course of the disease.

18 Aug 2016

Researchers develop new nanorobotic agents to deliver drugs by targeting cancerous tumours

Researchers from Polytechnique Montréal, Université de Montréal and McGill University have just achieved a spectacular breakthrough in cancer research.

16 Aug 2016

Study shows leptomeningeal metastases more prevalent in NSCLC patients with EGFR mutations

Leptomeningeal metastases (LM), a devastating complication and predictor of poor survival in lung cancer patients, was found to be more prevalent in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients with epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutations.

16 Aug 2016

Economic crisis linked to cancer mortality increase? An interview with Dr Mahiben Maruthappu

We found that the recent global economic crisis may have been associated with 260,000 additional cancer deaths in the OECD, between 2008 and 2010 alone.

9 Aug 2016

Combination of examination and radical local therapy can improve survival of men with prostate cancer

Men with very high-risk prostate cancer, who are treated at hospitals with a high proportion of administered radical local treatment (radiotherapy or prostatectomy), only have half of the mortality risk of men who are treated at hospitals with the lowest proportion.

8 Aug 2016

Studies show insurance status may impact patients' health outcomes following cancer diagnosis

Two new studies indicate that health insurance status may impact patients' health outcomes following a diagnosis of cancer.

8 Aug 2016

Advances in head and neck cancer treatments: an interview with Prof. Argiris

Patients with head and neck cancer usually present with locally advanced disease and often require more than one type of treatment, which may include surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy.

3 Aug 2016

LifeLine Software and Radyalis to exhibit Monte Carlo dose calculation technology at 2016 AAPM

LifeLine Software, Inc., a worldwide leader in dosimetric quality assurance tools, and Radyalis LLC, a pioneer in advanced radiotherapy software, will be demonstrating the next generation of Monte Carlo quality assurance solutions at the 2016 AAPM Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C.

30 Jul 2016

New combination treatment improves overall survival in patients with malignant melanoma

Among patients with melanoma, those who received both ipilimumab (Yervoy) and local peripheral treatments such as radiotherapy or electrochemotherapy had significantly prolonged overall survival compared with those who received only ipilimumab, according to a retrospective clinical study.

27 Jul 2016

Researchers identify genetic variants linked to radiotherapy side-effects in prostate cancer patients

A new study involving researchers from The University of Manchester looked at the genetic information of more than 1,500 prostate cancer patients and identified two variants linked to increased risk of radiotherapy side-effects.

26 Jul 2016

Male hormones can reverse biological drivers of aging, study shows

Telomerase, an enzyme naturally found in the human organism, is the closest of all known substances to a "cellular elixir of youth." In a recent study, Brazilian and US researchers show that sex hormones can stimulate production of this enzyme.