Oncology News

Nov. 2, 2009 - Stereotactic body radiation therapy should be considered a new standard of care for early-stage lung cancer treatment in patients with co-existing medical problems, according to results from a national clinical trial led by UT Southwestern Medical Center physicians.

A shorter, more intense course of whole-breast radiation works as well as the traditional six-week course, at least for some early-stage breast cancers, a new study shows.

In a prospective study of more than 5,000 U.S. men, epidemiologists say they now have evidence that having lower levels of heart-clogging fat may cut a man's risk of this form of cancer by nearly 60 percent.

A brief course of hormone-blocking therapy can provide small benefits to a specific group of men who get radiation therapy for prostate cancer , a long-running study shows.

Another significant finding is that almost three-quarters of the patients preferred to be called by their first name, even among elderly patients.

According to a study presented November 4, 2009, at the 51st Annual Meeting of the American Society for Radiation Oncology , a shortened, more intensive course of radiation given to the whole breast, along with an extra dose of radiation given to the surgical bed of the tumor , has been shown to result in excellent local control at a median follow ...

Amgen announced that the Phase 3 PRIME "203" trial evaluating Vectibix administered in combination with FOLFOX as a first-line treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer failed to meet a secondary endpoint of overall survival.

Treating a common brain tumor with multiple sessions of radiation appears to result in less brain swelling than treating the tumor once with a high dose of radiation, say researchers from the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center at Georgetown University Hospital.

Through in-depth interviews with 30 pediatricians and pediatric oncologists at elite medical centers, the authors discovered that physicians tend to view religion and spirituality pragmatically, considering them resources in family decision-making and in end of life situations, and barriers when they conflict with medical decisions, said lead ...

Early-stage breast cancer patients with HER2 positive tumors one centimeter or smaller are at significant risk of recurrence of their disease, compared to those with early-stage disease who do not express the aggressive protein, according to a study led by researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center.

Men whose prostate specific antigen rise within 18 months of radiotherapy are more likely to develop spread and die of their disease, according to an international study led by Fox Chase Cancer Center radiation oncologist Mark K. Buyyounouski, M.D., M.S. and presented at the annual meeting of the American Society for Radiation Oncology .

" A patient's socioeconomic status has absolutely no impact on his outcome following curative radiation therapy for the treatment of prostate cancer, according to a new study from Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit.

Researchers in the Oregon Health & Science University Knight Cancer Institute and the Portland Veterans Affairs Medical Center have found a combination of radiation therapy and chemotherapy given before prostate removal is safe and may have the potential to reduce cancer recurrence and improve patient survival.

One in three breast cancers that spreads also changes form, according to new research that may explain why some women do not respond to treatment.

Women with a relatively uncommon type of breast cancer are significantly more likely to face its recurrence and spread, but researchers now say these women may benefit from treatment with the breast cancer drug Herceptin.

Radiation oncologists at Rush University Medical Center are intent on finding ways to avoid damage to the critically important hippocampus and limbic circuit of the brain when cranial radiation is required to treat existing or potential metastatic cancers.

Treating limited stage small cell lung cancer with a combination of accelerated high-dose radiotherapy and chemotherapy has shown encouraging results, opening the door to larger scale investigation, according to new research from The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center.

Three-year survival was 100 percent for people with early-stage lung cancer and good lung function who were treated with radical stereotactic radiosurgery using CyberKnife, according to a new study funded by the product's maker.

Clinical researchers at Princess Margaret Hospital have confirmed that patients with oropharyngeal squamous cell cancer harbour a common type of human papilloma virus , but also that such cancers are very sensitive to radiation.

U.S. scientists say they're trying to determine if a NASA imaging technique can predict radiation therapy tissue damage experienced by breast cancer patients.