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.

Ionizing radiation can reduce stiffness of tumor cell microenvironment

Nearly half of all cancer patients receive radiation therapy to curb the growth of malignant cells. But little is known about how ionizing radiation affects the extracellular matrix (ECM), a patchwork of proteins and other biomolecules that surrounds cells and plays a vital role in their shape, movement and signaling functions.

3 Apr 2018

FDA-approved drug for chemical abortion shows promise for treatment of vestibular schwannoma

Massachusetts Eye and Ear researchers have shown that mifepristone, a drug currently FDA-approved for chemical abortion, prevents the growth of vestibular schwannoma cells. This sometimes-lethal intracranial tumor typically causes hearing loss and tinnitus

3 Apr 2018

Adjuvant therapy may not improve survival for rare cancers

A recent study found that adjuvant therapy following surgical removal of a rare form of gastrointestinal tumor has no effect on survival rates for patients.

26 Mar 2018

Adjuvant therapy after surgical removal of rare tumors may not provide survival benefit

Results of an analysis from the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine show that additional therapy, or adjuvant therapy, delivered after surgical removal of a rare type of gastrointestinal tumor does not increase survival rates for patients.

26 Mar 2018

Medical students get less formal education in radiation oncology, study finds

Medical school students receive little formal instruction in radiation oncology, a Loyola study has found.

22 Mar 2018

Research provides better understanding of how cancerous cells behave in low oxygen

An international team of researchers found how cancer cells respond to DNA damage signaling when in low oxygen, or hypoxia.

21 Mar 2018

UIH and RaySearch enter into new partnership

Shanghai United Imaging Healthcare Co. Ltd. and RaySearch Laboratories AB have entered into a collaboration within which RaySearch’s treatment planning system RayStation and radiation oncology system RayCare will be adapted to support the UIH linear accelerators.

From RaySearch Laboratories AB 16 Mar 2018

Higher doses of radiation do not translate into longer survival for prostate cancer patients

A new study shows that higher doses of radiation do not improve survival for many patients with prostate cancer, compared with the standard radiation treatment.

15 Mar 2018

Improved methods for capture of circulating tumor cells could help in disease tracking

Tumor cells circulating throughout the body in blood vessels have long been feared as harbingers of metastasizing cancer - even though most free-floating cancer cells will not go on to establish a new tumor.

15 Mar 2018

Socioeconomic inequalities may affect outcomes for patients with anal cancer

In a study of patients with anal cancer, living in low median household income areas was linked with an increased risk of early death. Published early online in CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, the findings suggest that socioeconomic inequalities may affect cancer outcomes, especially for highly treatable and curable tumors such as anal cancer.

12 Mar 2018

MD Anderson and RaySearch partner to enhance cancer radiation therapy

The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and RaySearch Laboratories today announced a strategic alliance with the aim of enhancing cancer radiation therapy through several initiatives, including more precisely targeting of tumors and improving upon, and making more available, an existing radiation therapy called adaptive radiation therapy, currently only used at highly specialized care centers.

From RaySearch Laboratories AB 27 Feb 2018

Actual experiences with modern breast radiation therapy found to be better than expected

A new study reveals that many patients with breast cancer have misconceptions and fears about radiation therapy, but their actual experiences with modern breast radiation therapy are better than they expected.

26 Feb 2018

Stem cell vaccine helps protect mice against numerous cancers, finds study

Lab mice injected with inactivated induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) displayed a significant immune response against lung, breast, and skin cancers. The vaccine also prevented relapses in animals with removed tumors.

16 Feb 2018

Cervical tumors may be vulnerable to therapies that attack cancer's fuel supply, study shows

Cancer therapies have improved -- in some cases dramatically -- over the past two decades, but treatment for cervical cancer has remained largely unchanged. All patients receive radiation and chemotherapy, yet despite the aggressive approach, the regimen fails in about one-third of patients with cervical cancer that has spread beyond the cervix but not outside the pelvis.

15 Feb 2018

Trial shows safety, feasibility of adding immunotherapy during chemoradiation for head and neck cancer

Analysis of a clinical trial, RTOG Foundation 3504, finds that nivolumab immunotherapy can be administered safely in conjunction with radiation therapy and chemotherapy for patients with newly diagnosed local-regionally advanced head and neck cancers.

13 Feb 2018

Scientists suggest new strategy to inhibit untreatable, deadly nerve sheath tumors

Genomic profiling of mostly untreatable and deadly nerve sheath tumors led scientists to test a possible therapeutic strategy that inhibited tumor growth in lab tests on human tumor cells and mouse models, according to research in the journal Cancer Cell.

13 Feb 2018

Lab-grown eggs could combat infertility

Researchers have successfully developed human eggs in a laboratory in a major scientific first.

9 Feb 2018

Microbubbles increase radiotherapy success against breast cancer

A new study found that injecting microbubbles filled with oxygen into breast cancer tumors makes them three times more sensitive to radiotherapy.

1 Feb 2018

NCCN sets new record for guidelines and events

More than eight million copies of the NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology were downloaded in 2017, marking a 16% increase over 2016, and setting a new personal record for the National Comprehensive Cancer Network.

31 Jan 2018

Refusing surgery decreases chance of beating esophageal cancer, study finds

Patients with esophageal cancer who refuse surgery when it is recommended are less likely to survive long term than similar groups of patients who undergo an operation, according to research presented today at the 54th Annual Meeting of The Society of Thoracic Surgeons.

30 Jan 2018