Radiation Therapy News and Research

RSS

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.

Current CVD risk assessments fall short for women from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds

Non-biological factors and social determinants of health are important to include in CVD risk assessment for women, particularly for women of diverse races and ethnicities other than white, according to a new American Heart Association scientific statement published today in Circulation, the Association's flagship, peer-reviewed journal.

10 Apr 2023

Phase 2 study shows safety and efficacy of new drug in men with high-risk prostate cancers

A new drug, a monoclonal antibody known as enoblituzumab, is safe in men with aggressive prostate cancer and may induce clinical activity against cancer throughout the body, according to a phase 2 study led by investigators at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center and its Bloomberg~Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy.

6 Apr 2023

Pathologic complete response can be used as a prognostic factor for clinical outcomes in soft tissue sarcoma patients

Combined long-term survival results from nonrandomized phase II trial NRG Oncology RTOG 0630 and the ancillary analysis of the combined NRG-RTOG 0630/9514 trials indicate that pathologic complete response (pCR) is associated with improved survival outcomes for patients with localized soft tissue sarcoma (STS) who receive preoperative chemoradiotherapy or radiotherapy.

31 Mar 2023

Research funding could advance cancer treatment

Cancer treatment could be advanced as a result of research funding awarded to the University of the West of Scotlan.

21 Mar 2023

Scientists discover mechanism used by cancer cells to repair DNA damage induced by radiotherapy

A team of scientists led by Dr. Kei-ichi TAKATA from the Center for Genomic Integrity within the Institute for Basic Science (IBS), has discovered a new type of DNA repair mechanism that cancer cells use to recover from next-generation cancer radiation therapy.

16 Mar 2023

Cherenkov color imaging holds potential to make radiation therapy safer and more effective

Cherenkov imaging is a valuable cancer treatment tool that can help doctors track and monitor radiation doses received by tissues during cancer therapy in real time.

14 Mar 2023

Study finds two substances capable of inhibiting proliferation of glioblastoma cells

Glioblastoma is a malignant tumor of the central nervous system (brain or spinal cord) and one of the deadliest types of cancer.

7 Mar 2023

Tumors' response to hormone therapy may be a biomarker for personalization of breast radiotherapy

How estrogen receptor-positive (ER+) breast cancer responds to hormone therapy may hold keys to understanding how it will respond to radiation therapy, and an experimental drug that increases the effectiveness of hormone therapy also overcomes radiation resistance in breast cancer, a study by UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers shows.

6 Mar 2023

New way to carry drugs across the blood-brain barrier using nanoparticles

Brain tumors are notoriously hard to treat. One reason is the challenge posed by the blood-brain barrier, a network of blood vessels and tissue with closely spaced cells.

3 Mar 2023

What are the clinical considerations of proton radiotherapy for individuals with locally advancing breast cancer?

In a recent review published in Current Oncology, researchers highlighted the technical and clinical considerations for proton radiotherapy delivery for individuals with locally advancing breast malignancies.

1 Mar 2023

New imaging method could help make better decisions on personalized cancer treatment

Decisions on cancer treatment could become better tailored to individual patients with the adoption of a new imaging method being developed by University of Michigan researchers that maps the chemical makeup of a patient’s tumor.

1 Mar 2023

Growing use of immunotherapy linked to increase in Medicare spending for outpatient terminal cancer care

A new study finds that recent increases in Medicare spending on outpatient cancer care at the end of patients' lives were driven almost entirely by a type of treatment given to fewer than 1 in 5 patients.

27 Feb 2023

Viable treatment option for patients with advanced cervical cancer

A recent University of Kentucky Markey Cancer Center study suggests a new radiopharmaceutical compound may be a viable treatment option for patients with advanced cervical cancer.

25 Feb 2023

First phase I trial of intravenous mistletoe extract to treat advanced cancer

Mistletoe extract has been widely used to support cancer therapy and improve quality of life, but there has been a lack of clinical trials and data to support its use.

22 Feb 2023

Proposal to scrap England’s long term plan for cancer could cost lives, experts warn

The UK government's proposal to roll England's long term plan for cancer into one strategy covering all major conditions, such as cardiovascular disease, chronic respiratory disease, dementia, mental health conditions, and musculoskeletal disorders is "a catastrophic decision that will cost lives," warn experts in The BMJ today.

17 Feb 2023

CHLA researchers receive funding to support studies into diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma

Researchers at Children's Hospital Los Angeles have received a nearly $1 million K08 grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH)-; as well as funding from the U.S. Department of Defense-;to support studies into diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG), a childhood brain tumor with a 0% survival rate.

16 Feb 2023

Enhanced prediction of prostate cancer recurrence using machine learning model

Predicting the course of prostate cancer is challenging because only a fraction of prostate cancer patients experience recurrence after radical prostatectomy or radiation therapy.

14 Feb 2023

Case Western Reserve wins $3.03 million grant to advance novel MRI and software technology for brain tumor diagnosis

Most medical magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans are inherently qualitative, which can lead to subjective analysis and inconsistent conclusions.

8 Feb 2023

Pembrolizumab in combination with chemotherapy improves progression free survival for women with advanced or recurrent endometrial cancer

NRG Oncology Phase III clinical trial, NRG-GY018, evaluating pembrolizumab in combination with standard of care chemotherapy (carboplatin and paclitaxel) met its primary endpoint of progression free survival (PFS) for the treatment of patients with stage III-IV or recurrent endometrial carcinoma, regardless of mismatch repair status.

3 Feb 2023

New nanotechnology-based test can detect and profile prostate cancers even in microscopic amounts

Cedars-Sinai Cancer investigators have developed a new nanotechnology-based test that can detect and profile prostate cancers-;even in microscopic amounts.

2 Feb 2023