Radiation Oncology

Radiation therapy uses high-energy radiation to damage cancer cells' DNA and destroy their ability to divide and grow. It is delivered using linear accelerators, proton accelerators, metered cobalt-60 exposure, or brachytherapy where radioactive seeds are placed inside the patient on a temporary or permanent basis to kill cancer or relieve pain. The main radiation oncology society and annual conference is the American Society of Radiation Oncology (ASTRO).

liver cancer

Radiation therapy extends progression-free survival in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma

Research presented this week at the American Society for Radiation Oncology Annual 2022 Meeting argues for the inclusion of radiation therapy as a standard of care in liver cancer patients who are ineligible for resection and other standard therapies. 

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PET/CT findings predict post-treatment, radiation-induced hypothyroidism

Radiation-induced hypothyroidism is common yet underdiagnosed, potentially owing to a lack of follow-up consensus in patients treated with radiation therapy for head and neck cancers.

Radiation oncology relatively low in ‘hazardous attitudes,’ although ‘macho’ makes the radar

The Federal Aviation Administration assesses pilots for five “hazardous attitudes” that may forewarn of risky behaviors in the air. Therapeutic radiology researchers have adapted the FAA scale for radiation oncologists making treatment decisions.

New recommendations for cardiac CT in cardio-oncology imaging

The statement was written to fill gaps in recommendations from prior consensus statements and guidelines in regards to the use of CCT in cardio-oncology, including use of calcium scoring and ruling out coronary disease when cardiac function is impaired.

The approach—called GammaTile—involves placing small radiation seeds at a tumor site during surgery.

New radiation therapy treatment stalls recurrence while sparing healthy tissue in patients with brain cancer

The treatment has the potential to “extend lifespans and improve quality of life” in patients with brain cancer, according to experts at UC San Diego Health. 

Two examples of PSMA-PET scans showing numerous prostate cancer metastases spread throughout the body. Many of these smaller tumors would not have been dected on previous standard-of-care imaging. Photo on left courtesy of SNMMI, right University of Chicago. #PSMAPET

PSMA-PET is rapidly changing the standard of care for prostate cancer patients

Adoption of PSMA-PET has been swift because it can significantly improve prostate cancer detection and treatment. SNMMI President Munir Ghesani, MD, explains how.

non-small cell lung cancer tumor segmentation

Algorithm reduces NSCLC tumor segmentation times by 65%

In a close collaboration with radiation oncologists, experts trained their model on the CT lung images of 787 patients and tested it on the scans of more than 1,300 patients from external datasets.

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Boston Scientific acquires startup behind new FDA-cleared embolization technology

The new hydrogel material was designed to immediately conform to the patient's body and create a barrier.