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.

Researchers discover unknown reaction caused by radiation therapy

Radiation therapy: A chilling word that creates images of burn-injuries where the cancer killing ray went through the skin. For decades research hospitals have been investigating the alternative method Hadron therapy, or particle therapy, where runaway cells are bombarded with "naked" atomic nuclei or protons.

15 Dec 2015

New drug combination shows promise in treating men with metastatic prostate cancer

A new drug combination may be effective in treating men with metastatic prostate cancer. Preliminary results of this new approach are encouraging and have led to an ongoing international study being conducted in 196 hospitals worldwide.

26 Nov 2015

Researchers offer novel solution to promote successful radiotherapy for cancer patients

Researchers at The Tisch Cancer Institute at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have discovered a key mechanism by which radiation treatment (radiotherapy) fails to completely destroy tumors. And, in the journal Nature Immunology, they offer a novel solution to promote successful radiotherapy for the millions of cancer patients who are treated with it.

25 Nov 2015

Crucial tumor-suppressing gene protects immune attack against lung cancer

A crucial tumor-thwarting gene protects an immune attack against lung cancer by blocking the key to an off switch on T cells, the customized warriors of the immune system, a team led by researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center reports in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

21 Nov 2015

VA announces new ROPA program to improve radiation therapy cancer care for Veterans

The Department of Veterans Affairs today announced a new Radiation Oncology Practice Assessment (ROPA) program to leverage recent advances in information technology to improve radiation therapy cancer care for our nation's Veterans.

19 Nov 2015

TGen: PPF drug could help treat patients with deadly brain cancer

In a significant breakthrough, the Translational Genomics Research Institute has identified a drug, propentofylline or PPF, that could help treat patients with deadly brain cancer.

13 Nov 2015

Accuray announces installation of CyberKnife M6 and TomoTherapy Systems at FALP Cancer Institute in Chile

Accuray Incorporated announced today that the first CyberKnife M6 and TomoTherapy Systems in Chile are now installed at Fundacion Arturo Lopez Perez (FALP) Cancer Institute in Santiago, Chile. FALP is also the first hospital in Latin America to install both Accuray systems.

5 Nov 2015

New clinical trial uses aggressive treatment method for patients with pancreas cancer

Pancreas cancer remains one of the deadliest cancers worldwide. In the United States, it accounts for only three percent of all diagnosed cancers but it causes almost seven percent of all cancer deaths. A pancreas cancer diagnosis often comes after age 50 and after the cancer has spread, making it difficult to remove surgically.

4 Nov 2015

Chemotherapy treatment can contribute to long-term neurocognitive deficits in pediatric brain tumor survivors

More children are surviving malignant brain tumors than in the past, thanks to the use of intense treatments using platinum-based chemotherapy (cisplatin and high-dose carboplatin). Unfortunately, the therapy has a known side effect of permanent hearing loss, resulting from damage to the inner ear.

4 Nov 2015

UCLA study finds cost variation across entire care process for low-risk prostate cancer

Now, for the first time, UCLA researchers have described cost across an entire care process for low-risk prostate cancer - from the time a patient checks in for his first appointment to his post-treatment follow-up testing - using time-driven activity-based costing. And they found a wide variation in costs for the various available treatments that remained consistent over a 12-year period, indicating a better method to monitor costs could save valuable healthcare dollars, said study first author Dr. Aaron Laviana, a fifth year urology resident.

3 Nov 2015

New research shows that autophagy can operate in cell nucleus to guard against start of cancer

Autophagy, literally self-eating or the degradation of unwanted cellular bits and pieces by the cell itself, has been shown for the first time to also work in the cell nucleus. In addition, in this setting it plays a role in guarding against the start of cancer, according to new research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

29 Oct 2015

New radiotherapeutic bandage shows promise against squamous cell carcinoma in animal model

A radiotherapeutic bandage is being evaluated by researchers for efficacy against squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) in an animal model. These results could confirm the viability of a new and improved strategy for the radiotherapeutic treatment of skin cancer in the clinic. This work is being presented Oct. 28 at the 2015 American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists Annual Meeting and Exposition, the world's largest pharmaceutical sciences meeting, in Orlando, Fla. Oct. 25-29.

29 Oct 2015

ISIBELa joint research project aims to improve cancer therapy

Some individuals experience cancer recurrence when they enter adolescence or adulthood after they have been successfully treated for cancer in childhood while others don't. But why is this? This is the core question being considered in a research project directed by the University Medical Center of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz.

27 Oct 2015

APBI brachytherapy improves overall survival in selected patients with early stage breast cancer

The Groupe Européen de Curiethérapie European Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology (GEC-ESTRO) today announced results from a prospective, randomized, multicenter phase III study comparing accelerated partial breast irradiation (APBI) with interstitial multicatheter brachytherapy to whole breast irradiation (WBI).

20 Oct 2015

NCCN reveals new value initiative for CML and Multiple Myeloma

The National Comprehensive Cancer Network, a not-for-profit alliance of 26 of the world's leading cancer centers, today unveiled its new value initiative—the NCCN Evidence Blocks, published within new versions of the NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology (NCCN Guidelines) for Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia (CML) and Multiple Myeloma.

19 Oct 2015

UAMS researchers report positive results from treating Metastatic Merkel-cell carcinoma with idelalisib drug

Identifying a patient's genetic mutation led University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) physician-researcher Ling Gao, M.D., Ph.D., to an existing drug that eliminated the patient's stage IV Merkel-cell carcinoma. Gao's findings, made in collaboration with two other UAMS researchers, were published today in The New England Journal of Medicine.

19 Oct 2015

University of Maryland develops GammaPod system to treat early-stage breast cancer

After more than a decade of research and development, researchers in the Department of Radiation Oncology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine will begin enrolling patients in the first clinical trial of GammaPod, a new high-precision, image-guided radiation therapy system specifically designed to treat early-stage breast cancer.

19 Oct 2015

ViewRay obtains Korean regulatory approval for MRI-guided radiation therapy system

ViewRay, Inc. announced today that the company has received regulatory approval from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) – formerly known as the Korean Food and Drug Administration – to sell its ViewRay system in Korea. On October 13, 2015, the first patient treatments commenced less than four weeks after the system completed installation at Seoul National University Hospital, a leading healthcare facility in Korea.

18 Oct 2015

Study could help mitigate effects of ageing on blood stem cells, promote new therapies for anaemia

A research conducted by Juan Méndez, Head of the DNA Replication Group of the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO), sheds light on the molecular mechanisms of ageing of the stem cells responsible for regenerating blood cells and opens up a new avenue for reducing their progressive functional decline with age.

16 Oct 2015

UM SOM researchers to initiate first clinical trial of GammaPod system in patients with early-stage breast cancer

16 Oct 2015

Radiation Therapy News and Research

Further Reading

Researchers discover unknown reaction caused by radiation therapy

New drug combination shows promise in treating men with metastatic prostate cancer

Researchers offer novel solution to promote successful radiotherapy for cancer patients

Crucial tumor-suppressing gene protects immune attack against lung cancer

VA announces new ROPA program to improve radiation therapy cancer care for Veterans

TGen: PPF drug could help treat patients with deadly brain cancer

Accuray announces installation of CyberKnife M6 and TomoTherapy Systems at FALP Cancer Institute in Chile

New clinical trial uses aggressive treatment method for patients with pancreas cancer

Chemotherapy treatment can contribute to long-term neurocognitive deficits in pediatric brain tumor survivors

UCLA study finds cost variation across entire care process for low-risk prostate cancer

New research shows that autophagy can operate in cell nucleus to guard against start of cancer

New radiotherapeutic bandage shows promise against squamous cell carcinoma in animal model

ISIBELa joint research project aims to improve cancer therapy

APBI brachytherapy improves overall survival in selected patients with early stage breast cancer

NCCN reveals new value initiative for CML and Multiple Myeloma

UAMS researchers report positive results from treating Metastatic Merkel-cell carcinoma with idelalisib drug

University of Maryland develops GammaPod system to treat early-stage breast cancer

ViewRay obtains Korean regulatory approval for MRI-guided radiation therapy system

Study could help mitigate effects of ageing on blood stem cells, promote new therapies for anaemia

UM SOM researchers to initiate first clinical trial of GammaPod system in patients with early-stage breast cancer

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