A proton therapy treatment room at a facility in Prague, Czech Republic. Canada lags behind other countries in providing this treatment.
(AP Photo/Petr David Josek)
Proton beam therapy is a precise form of radiation that can reduce the side-effects of cancer treatment. It is available around the world, but not in Canada.
Advances in radiotherapy involve combining new technologies with clinical expertise.
Kateryna Kon/Science Photo Library via Getty Images
Radiotherapy takes many forms: from directing powerful high-energy beams toward specific areas of the body to placing radioactive seeds right next to tumors.
The limiting factor in cancer radiotherapy is that doses high enough to try to cure tumours also damage surrounding normal tissues.
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Higher doses of radiotherapy for cancer treatment destroy more healthy tissue as well as more tumour cells. Gold nanoparticles sensitize tumours to radiation, making treatment more effective.
A 12-week-old baby female macaque, named Grady, was born from frozen testicular tissue.
Oregon Health and Science University
Children with cancer not only endure chemotherapy or radiation treatment but they may also face infertility in adulthood. Now a new procedure, just proven in monkeys, may be close to use in humans.
Palliative radiation therapy is effective regardless of a patient’s original cancer site (for example breast, lung or kidney) and is usually delivered in one to 10 daily doses.
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Palliative radiation therapy can improve a cancer patient’s life, by alleviating pain and other symptoms. Unfortunately, some doctors associate the term with end-of-life care and fail to refer people.
The Princess Margaret Cancer Centre in Toronto runs a Cancer Rehabilitation and Survivorship Program, which offers one-on-one consults and an eight-week group rehabilitation program for patients.
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Multidisciplinary rehabilitation teams could help cancer survivors to recover from the toxic side-effects of their treatments and return to their lives.
Surviving breast cancer has been the biggest treatment goal until recent years, when attention began to turn to surviving well, as these three women appear to be.
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While more women than ever are surviving breast cancer, they often do so with bad side effects. Studies are showing that physical therapy early in the post-treatment phase can help.
Collaborations between mathematicians, cancer biologists and clinical oncologists enable both rapid cost-effective testing of cancer drug combinations, and deeper understanding of cancer drug resistance.
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Cancer is the second leading cause of death globally. Mathematicians have joined the fight, developing models to both test cancer drug combinations and understand chemotherapy drug resistance.
In this Dec. 3, 2014 photo, liver cancer patient Crispin Lopez Serrano talks to an oncology nurse at a hospital in Clackamas, Ore.
AP Photo/Gosia Wozniacka
Great strides have been made in cancer medicine over decades, but it’s important not to forget the growing role that kindness and empathy play in good care.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) flanked by Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), left, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) as they addressed the unpopularity of their replacement bill.
AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite
Poor people who have cancer are one of the most financially vulnerable groups in the US. Obamacare aimed to improve their access to care. A recent study shows how it did.
Women with breast cancer face many treatment decisions on the path to survivorship. One question has been: Can they have fewer doses of radiation and still keep their risks for recurrence low?
Women with breast cancer often have six weeks of radiation therapy after surgery to remove the cancer. A recent study suggests that shortening that time is not only effective but also cost-saving.
Director of the Cancer Rehabilitation and Survivorship Program and Butterfield Drew Chair in Cancer Survivorship Research at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre. Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry., University of Toronto