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.

Full-body exercise and CDT best ways to minimize lymphedema

Nearly 40 percent of breast cancer survivors suffer from lymphedema, a chronic condition that causes body limbs to swell from fluid buildup, as a result of lymph node removal and radiation therapy.

23 Oct 2012

Immediate postoperative radiation improves prostate cancer progression survival

Radiation immediately after prostate cancer surgery substantially improves biochemical progression-free survival and local control over 10 years compared with a wait-and-see policy, European study findings indicate.

22 Oct 2012

Liquid version of breast cancer drug Tamoxifen launched in the US

Breast Cancer Awareness Month raises visibility and research dollars to address a disease that in the United States claims nearly 40,000 lives annually and affects approximately 240,000 people who each year are newly diagnosed. While the month's activities are important in the fight against breast cancer, they are not designed to directly improve the day-to-day management of the disease.

22 Oct 2012

Pain relief from palliative RT for bone metastases improves QoL

Cancer patients who experience pain relief after palliative radiation therapy for bone metastases report a better quality of life on specific bone metastases measures than their peers who do not respond to treatment, show study results.

18 Oct 2012

Stat5 protein could serve as biomarker to help guide prostate cancer treatment

Men who had high levels of the activated Stat5 protein in their prostate cancer after a radical prostatectomy were more likely to have a recurrence or die from the disease compared to men who had little to no presence of the growth protein, according to a recent study published in Human Pathology by Jefferson's Kimmel Cancer Center researchers.

17 Oct 2012

New radiation therapy can reduce risk of neurocognitive adverse effects in children

Children who undergo brain radiation therapy run a significant risk of suffering from permanent neurocognitive adverse effects. These adverse effects are due to the fact that the radiation often encounters healthy tissue. This reduces the formation of new cells, particularly in the hippocampus - the part of the brain involved in memory and learning.

16 Oct 2012

New radiation treatment techniques can reduce risk of neurocognitive adverse effects in children

15 Oct 2012

Few physicians recommend active surveillance for low-risk prostate cancer

Few physicians recommend active surveillance for low-risk prostate cancer rather than pursuing surgery or radiation, according to a Mayo Clinic study being presented at the North Central Section of the American Urological Association's annual meeting Oct. 10-13 in Chicago.

15 Oct 2012

Elekta Synergy system with Agility 160-leaf MLC now available at Radboud

The first of three newly acquired Elekta Synergy treatment systems equipped with Agility 160-leaf multi-leaf collimator (MLC) is now up and running clinically at Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Center - making the clinic the first in the Netherlands to use Agility.

From Elekta 15 Oct 2012

Celgene receives FDA approval for ABRAXANE to treat non-small cell lung cancer

Celgene Corporation today announced the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved ABRAXANE (paclitaxel protein-bound particles for injectable suspension) (albumin-bound) for the first-line treatment of locally advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer, in combination with carboplatin, in patients who are not candidates for curative surgery or radiation therapy.

15 Oct 2012

Fibulin-3 protein may help identify mesothelioma in early stages

Researchers at NYU School of Medicine have discovered the protein product of a little-known gene may one day prove useful in identifying and monitoring the development of mesothelioma in early stages, when aggressive treatment can have an impact on the progression of disease and patient prognosis.

11 Oct 2012

ASTRO names distinguished neurosurgeon as 2012 Honorary Member

The American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) has named Mark P. Carol, MD, a distinguished leader in the fields of intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) and image-guided radiation therapy (IGRT), as its 2012 Honorary Member, which is the highest honor the Society bestows upon distinguished cancer researchers and leaders in disciplines other than radiation oncology, radiation physics or radiobiology.

10 Oct 2012

Chemotherapy plus immunotherapy can enhance anti-tumor effects in patients with advanced cancer

Researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center and colleagues at the University of South Florida and Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute and Hospital in China have discovered that combining chemotherapy drugs and immunotherapy cancer vaccines results in an enhanced anti-tumor effect.

10 Oct 2012

HPV status predicts oropharyngeal cancer irradiation response

Human papillomavirus-positive head and neck cancer is more sensitive to the initial effects of radiation therapy than HPV-negative head and neck cancer, suggest study findings.

8 Oct 2012

NCI awards Cellerant SBIR contract to develop Megakaryocyte Progenitor Cell therapy for thrombocytopenia

Cellerant Therapeutics Inc., a biotechnology company developing novel hematopoietic stem cell-based cellular and antibody therapies for blood disorders and cancer, announced today that it has been awarded a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase 1 contract and a Phase 2 option from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) valued up to $1,683,503.

8 Oct 2012

Patient navigation services can reduce dangerous delays in identification of breast cancer

Today researchers from The George Washington University published a study showing that breast cancer patients can reduce potentially dangerous delays in the identification of breast cancer with the assistance of patient navigation services.

8 Oct 2012

GW professor to develop blood test for early detection of breast cancer

Today, patients with precancerous lesions, or early-stage breast cancer are usually diagnosed after a mammography screening. This method of detection can lead to false-positives and overtreatment, since mammography cannot determine whether pre-cancerous cells will actually turn into breast cancer. This may all change after Sidney Fu, M.D., professor of medicine at the George Washington School of Medicine and Health Sciences (SMHS), completes his study of early breast cancer detection using novel small RNA (microRNA or miRNA) biomarkers.

5 Oct 2012