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).

Nucletron installs first Esteya electronic brachytherapy system for skin cancer treatment

The first Esteya electronic brachytherapy system in the United States has been installed at New York's Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. Esteya by Nucletron, an Elekta company, is a new approach for skin cancer treatment that relies on a small, high dose rate (HDR) X-ray source to apply high precision radiotherapy directly to the cancer site.

From Elekta 16 Dec 2013

Experts develop innovative technologies to improve healthcare and border security

With a solemn ceremony organized on December 11, 2013 NCBJ concluded the 85.5 million PLN worth "AiD" R&D project co-financed by European Union. Project outcomes include 3 demonstrators of innovative medical devices (Coline 6, IntraLine, and InLine PN50) and 2 demonstrators of cargo scanners developed to improve security at European border crossing checkpoints (SWAN and CANIS).

13 Dec 2013

RPCI enrolls patients in clinical trials of immunotherapy approaches for treating genitourinary cancers

Researchers at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute Center for Immunotherapy are enrolling patients in three different clinical trials of novel immunotherapy approaches for treating genitourinary cancers.

13 Dec 2013

Emergent BioSolutions enters into definitive agreement to acquire Cangene

Emergent BioSolutions Inc.announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement with Cangene Corporation (TSX: CNJ) under which Emergent will acquire all of the outstanding common shares of Cangene in an all-cash transaction valued at $3.24 per share on a fully diluted basis for an aggregate purchase price of $222 million.

12 Dec 2013

New drug combination therapy effective for patients with HER2-positive breast cancer

Combining the chemotherapy drugs docetaxel and carboplatin with the HER2-targeted therapy trastuzumab was identified to be an ideal postsurgery treatment option for patients with HER2-positive breast cancer, regardless of tumor size and whether or not disease has spread to the lymph nodes, according to results from the BETH study presented here at the 2013 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, held Dec. 10-14.

11 Dec 2013

EORTC hosts joint session with ESTRO to focus on latest developments in soft tissue sarcoma treatment

The EORTC will host a joint session with ESTRO at ESTRO 33 focusing on current developments in soft tissue sarcoma treatment. It will take place from 14:30- 16:00 on Monday, 07 April 2014 in Vienna, Austria and will be co-chaired by Professors Jean-Yves Blay of the Centre Leon Berard in Lyon, France and past EORTC President and Philippe Maingon of the Centre Georges-Fran-ois-Leclerc in Dijon, France, and Chair of the EORTC Radiation Oncology Group.

3 Dec 2013

Researchers use hyperthermia to treat patients with malignant glioma

Malignant glioma is very sensitive to heat. Prof. Yunlong Ge and team from the Second Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University, China used a brain tumor hyperthermia apparatus to treat malignant glioma patients, and achieved good therapeutic efficacy.

3 Dec 2013

World's first clinical trial to use MLC tracking system to improve prostate cancer radiotherapy treatment

Researchers and clinicians from the University of Sydney and the Northern Sydney Cancer Centre are leading a world first clinical trial using a tracking system to improve prostate cancer radiotherapy treatment.

28 Nov 2013

Smoking reduces nasopharyngeal cancer survival

Both current and former smoking have a significant impact on the prognosis of patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma, Chinese researchers caution.

26 Nov 2013

Radiation therapy now available via latest version of ACR ppropriateness Criteria

New and updated evidence-based guidelines to help health care providers choose the most appropriate medical imaging exam or radiation therapy for a patient's clinical condition are now available via the latest version of the American College of Radiology (ACR) Appropriateness Criteria.

25 Nov 2013

Using radiation models to improve cancer therapies: an interview with Adrian Treverton, COO of Xstrahl and Jean-Pierre Wery, President of Crown Bioscience

What we are trying to do is take a cancer model like the PDX model (patient-derived tumor xenograft), which is a human-derived cancer growing in an in vivo model and apply radiation to that model.

From Xstrahl 20 Nov 2013

UC San Diego study suggests racial inequality leads to higher mortality in cancer patients

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine say metastatic colorectal cancer patients of African-American descent are less likely to be seen by cancer specialists or receive cancer treatments. This difference in treatment explains a large part of the 15 percent higher mortality experienced by African-American patients than non-Hispanic white patients.

20 Nov 2013

Vismodegib drug does not offer added benefits for patients with BCC

The drug vismodegib (trade name: Erivedge) is approved for the treatment of patients with two forms of basal cell carcinoma: symptomatic metastatic BCC and locally advanced BCC inappropriate for surgery or radiotherapy.

19 Nov 2013

Oraya presents data from INTREPID study of stereotactic radiotherapy for treatment of wet AMD

Oraya® Therapeutics, Inc. announced today that initial three-year safety follow-up data from its INTREPID study of Oraya Therapy™ stereotactic radiotherapy for the treatment of wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD) were presented for the first time today during the America Academy of Ophthalmology's (AAO) annual meeting in New Orleans.

16 Nov 2013

Quantitative models predict risk of acute urinary symptoms in prostate cancer patients treated with RT

An interim study by Italian researchers showed that using a modelling programme together with IPSS and dosage measure can predict the severity of acute urinary symptoms in patients with early prostate cancer who underwent radiotherapy.

16 Nov 2013

European Commission grants marketing authorization for Bayer HealthCare's Xofigo injection

Bayer HealthCare announced today that the European Commission has granted marketing authorization for Xofigo (radium Ra 223 dichloride) solution for injection for the treatment of adults with castration-resistant prostate cancer, symptomatic bone metastases and no known visceral metastases. This decision follows a positive recommendation from the European Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use in September of this year.

15 Nov 2013

Acquired resistance to cancer therapies: an interview with Dr Rajendra Kumari, Chief Scientific Officer at PRECOS

Cancer can be treated by a number of different ways depending on the location, grade and stage of tumour. A patient's age, medical history and lifestyle will also be taken into consideration and a combination of treatments will also be adopted to provide maximum effect.

14 Nov 2013

Polymer for mending broken bones holds hope for delivering chemotherapy drugs to the brain

A polymer originally designed to help mend broken bones could be successful in delivering chemotherapy drugs directly to the brains of patients suffering from brain tumours, researchers at The University of Nottingham have discovered.

14 Nov 2013

Latest techniques for diagnosing, treating heart failure to be presented at EuroEcho-Imaging 2013

The latest science on the role of imaging in diagnosing and treating heart failure will be presented at EuroEcho-Imaging 2013, the official annual meeting of the European Association of Cardiovascular Imaging (EACVI), a registered branch of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC). It takes place during 11-14 December in Istanbul, Turkey, at the Istanbul Lutfi Kirdar Convention & Exhibition Centre (ICEC).

13 Nov 2013

Targeted radiotherapy could offer viable alternative to current procedures for breast cancer

Two new studies, published in The Lancet and The Lancet Oncology, show that targeted radiotherapy delivered during surgery could offer a viable alternative to current procedures – which require women to attend daily radiotherapy sessions for weeks after surgery – for some women undergoing surgery for early breast cancer.

11 Nov 2013