A proposed clinical trial exploring the ability of 4D CT to identify healthy lung tissue that can be spared during cancer radiotherapy has received NIH funding.  

Public interest in cancer screening soars and dips on the changing air of all sorts of variables, from press coverage of clinical trials to releases of new guidelines to the words and actions of popular entertainers and other public figures.

Flying in the face of a January study in Science suggesting that two-thirds of cancers result from random cell mutations, a new study in Nature points to behavioral factors as the culprit in nine of every 10.

CHICAGO—A new review of CT scans in the National Lung Screening Trial has revealed that women are as much as 50 percent more likely than men to have “ground-glass” nodules. Moreover, when these nodules are present, women seem to be at greater risk than men of developing lung cancer.

One of the top stories to catch my eye this week has triggered a discussion on whether recommendations for screening should be adjusted. And it has nothing to do with mammography.

Hypofractionated radiation therapy (RT) has become an intriguing treatment option for cancer thanks to its shortened therapy schedule relative to conventional RT. A recently presented analysis has shown it also largely matches up with conventional RT on cure rates and side effects when used for low-risk prostate cancer.

A steroidal pain-management treatment used during radiation therapy for bone metastases has made good on its earlier promise, meaningfully outperforming placebo in a double-blind, randomized phase 3 trial. 

Mevion Medical Systems is expanding its collaboration with Washington University in St. Louis to study Mevion’s HYPERSCAN pencil beam scanning technology and its effects on the delivery of intensity modulated proton therapy (IMPT) treatment delivery.