Monday, April 23, 2012

Gynecologic Cancers Treated in Reduced Time

[caption id="attachment_5149" align="alignright" width="263" caption="This method can better target and treat cancer."][/caption]

According to a study, a large number of women are diagnosed with gynecologic cancer every year.   Researchers have developed a more effective way to treat this type of cancer.  This discovery has shortened treatment time from five weeks to three days.

Stereo-tactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) has been used on other types of cancer.  This is the first time it has been used to treat gynecologic cancers.  This method uses radiation beams and is able to target well-defined tumors.  The tumors must be imaged and marked before the treatment.  During treatment patients are immobilized.
This procedure shortens treatment time and reduces side effects by being less damaging to surrounding healthy tissues.

Because this method delivers radiation with high accuracy, it is a very promising treatment for gynecologic cancer.  In the recent years gynecologic cancers have been diagnosed at a very rapid rate.  I believe this is a very good step in the right direction.  It will help a lot of women get better quicker and get back to their regular lives sooner.  The better scientists understand cancer, the better it can be treated and prevented, saving many lives.

1 comment:

  1. It is very interesting how these types of cancers have been increasing throughout the years. It is probably mostly because of the greater frequency of HPV as well as a higher amount of carcinogens present in the environment. Since these cancers are increasing in frequency, it would make sense to develop newer and safer methods of treatment.

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