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.

Lower educational level makes some men more vulnerable to the effects of prostate cancer

Among men who have received similar treatments for prostate cancer, those with less education , particularly those who did not graduate from high school , experience a significant drop in their quality of life after treatment compared with men who have more education, according to a study led by researchers at the San Francisco VA Medical Center (SFVAMC).

15 Apr 2007

Hospital-based performance measures for quality of care for breast and colorectal cancer

In a move more than two years in the making, a National Quality Forum (NQF) endorsement became effective today of the first nationally recognized hospital-based performance measures for quality of care for breast and colorectal cancer.

15 Apr 2007

Curcumin has anticancer effects

Curry powder is a mixture predominantly composed of turmeric root extract and other spices such as coriander and fenugreek.

14 Apr 2007

Cancer patients relying more on friends, family for treatment advice

More cancer patients and their loved ones are making decisions on what treatments to undergo based on the advice of their friends and family, according to a study commissioned by the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology (ASTRO).

12 Apr 2007

Scientists link treatment-induced growth factor to cancer spread

In advanced cancer, anti-tumor therapies often work only partially or not at all, and tumors progress following treatment.

7 Apr 2007

TGF-beta inhibitors stop tumors spreading to new sites

For several types of cancer, persistently high levels of the soluble factor TGF-beta in the blood after surgery, chemotherapy, or radiation therapy correlate with increased risk of early metastasis and a poor prognosis.

7 Apr 2007

Pharmacyclics undergoes 'file over protest' for Xcytrin NDA

Pharmacyclics, Inc. has announced its request to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that its New Drug Application (NDA) for Xcytrin (motexafin gadolinium) Injection be filed over protest.

5 Apr 2007

Newmarket, Ontario to establish world-class cancer centre

Princess Margaret Hospital (PMH) will share its latest knowledge, research in cancer care, and expertise to assist Southlake Regional Health Centre (Southlake) in establishing a world-class cancer centre through a formal affiliation between a world leader in cancer care and the newly established cancer program in the Newmarket-based hospital.

5 Apr 2007

Zinc sulfate doesn't help head and neck cancer patients

Zinc sulfate, a supplement thought to be helpful in regaining the sense of taste for some head and neck cancer patients after radiation therapy, has been found to have no significant impact on preventing or curing taste alteration, according to a study released today in the International Journal for Radiation Oncology-Biology-Physics, the official journal of ASTRO.

4 Apr 2007

Obesity at the time of prostate-cancer diagnosis dramatically increases the risk of dying from the disease

Obese men who are diagnosed with prostate cancer have more than two-and-a-half times the risk of dying from the disease as compared to men of normal weight at the time of diagnosis, according to a study by researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

15 Mar 2007

Researchers use poliovirus to destroy neuroblastoma tumors in mice

The cause of one notorious childhood disease, poliovirus, could be used to treat the ongoing threat of another childhood disease, neuroblastoma.

15 Mar 2007

Using a light hand to treat Hodgkin disease

Children with low-risk Hodgkin disease can be cured using cancer drugs that have only minimal or no toxicity, combined with low doses of radiation, according to St. Jude researchers.

13 Mar 2007

Study aims to find which breast cancer patients need chemotherapy

Most postmenopausal women with small breast tumors don't need chemotherapy to reduce their recurrence risk after lumpectomy.

13 Mar 2007

Survivors of childhood cancers have a ninefold increased risk of developing a secondary sarcoma

Treatments for childhood cancer have resulted in a current overall cure rate of over 70 percent. However, long-term survivors of childhood cancer are at a higher risk of developing a secondary cancer than the general population.

20 Feb 2007

Chemotherapy drug bortezomib packs a one-two punch

Cancer can be wily, and those who treat the disease have amassed a wide array of weapons with which to fight it and kill tumors.

20 Feb 2007

HIV protein TAT used to pull protein Bim into cancer cells - helps kill cancer cells

Cancer cells are sick, but they keep growing because they don't react to internal signals urging them to die. Now researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found an efficient way to get a messenger into cancer cells that forces them to respond to death signals. And they did it using one of the most sinister pathogens around - HIV.

15 Feb 2007

New oral blood thinner

A new oral blood thinner is being compared to an old standby to see if it works as well and is easier to manage long term, researchers say.

13 Feb 2007

Machine learning speeds up Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy

A new computer-based technique could eliminate hours of manual adjustment associated with a popular cancer treatment.

7 Feb 2007

Seed implants critical for achieving a better prostate cancer outcome

More than ninety percent of men who receive appropriate radiation dose levels with permanent radiation seed implants to treat their prostate cancer are cured of their cancer eight years after diagnosis, according to a study released in the February 1 issue of the International Journal for Radiation Oncology - Biology - Physics, the official journal of ASTRO.

31 Jan 2007

Combination therapy spares some head and neck patients from surgery

Giving patients with head and neck cancer a combination of chemotherapy and radiation therapy controls the cancer and allows many patients to avoid additional surgery to the neck.

18 Jan 2007