Radiation Oncology/Therapy: Page 344

Avoiding cardiac irradiation key to breast cancer patients' long-term survival

By Kate Madden Yee

The use of radiotherapy to treat early-stage breast cancer has proved effective in decreasing local-regional recurrence rates and improving a woman's chances of long-term breast-cancer specific survival. But it can also boost her risk of heart disease if the heart is in the irradiated field. Avoiding the heart during radiation therapy for breast cancer patients may be crucial to their survival.

October 3, 2007

NAS lands brachytherapy supply deal

By AuntMinnie.com staff writers

North American Scientific (NAS) has been named by radiation oncology firm Core Oncology as its exclusive supplier of palladium-103 (Pd-103) brachytherapy seeds for the soft-tissue brachytherapy market.

October 2, 2007

Arizona woman left in CT scanner for five hours

By AuntMinnie.com staff writers

A cancer patient at an oncology clinic in Tucson, AZ, was inadvertently left in a CT scanner for five hours after staff at the facility forgot about her following her exam.

September 30, 2007

NAS ClearPath used in APBI procedure

By AuntMinnie.com staff writers

North American Scientific (NAS) of Chatsworth, CA, has announced that its ClearPath-HDR device has been used in a patient for the first time.

September 27, 2007

Elekta receives Austrian contract

By AuntMinnie.com staff writers

Vöcklabruck Hospital in Austria has signed a 10-year agreement with Elekta of Stockholm, Sweden, to supply intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) and image-guided radiation therapy (IGRT) treatment systems.

September 27, 2007

Alpha particles pack a solid punch for shrinking solid tumors

Targeted alpha therapy (TAT) is an experimental treatment for micrometastases and cancers like leukemia and lymphoma that do not produce solid tumors. A group of Australian researchers noticed a remarkable regression of the subjects' solid tumors during a trial of TAT with metastatic melanoma patients. They suggested that this previously undiscovered mechanism could potentially form the basis of a new type of cancer therapy.

September 27, 2007