Shorter courses of more intense radiation therapy mean fewer visits and less cost for patients. Studies show abbreviated treatments are just as effective as longer courses. ONE MORNING AS SHE DRESSED FOR WORK in July 2017, Tiffany Fagnani’s eye began to twitch. Then her arm began to twitch too. Fagnani, then 36, was working as a […]
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JUST AFTER LABOR DAY in 2019, Sascha Roth, who was 38 years old, was diagnosed with stage III rectal cancer. Roth co-owns and operates Urban Country Designs, a furniture and interior design company in Bethesda, Maryland. After noticing some rectal bleeding, she had a sigmoidoscopy, and a growth in her rectum was removed. When her gastroenterologist
Immunotherapy: When is sooner better than later? Read More »
BEFORE MEGAN-CLAIRE CHASE received her first round of chemotherapy in October 2015, her oncologist told her that side effects of cancer treatment could include some memory loss. “They said, ‘You might get a little forgetful. It will probably be minimal. Don’t freak out,’” she says. Chase, who was single, 39, and working in radio advertising in
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AT SUNRISE ON MARCH 4, 2020, the same day the first COVID-19 case was confirmed in Houston and one week before the World Health Organization declared the global spread of the disease a pandemic, Callie Piper went to the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center to begin a long day of appointments and tests. Piper
Cancer Care’s Virtual Revolution Read More »
Since the 1960s, the dream of ultra-fast high dose radiation promised better cancer treatment with fewer side effects. Will the reality measure up? For more than 100 years, radiation has been a pillar of cancer treatment. But the practice—hitting cancer cells with beams of intense energy—doesn’t come without a cost to the body. Radiation can
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SCIENTISTS HAVE SPENT DECADES mapping the tens of thousands of genes encoded in human DNA. They want to understand how genes function and to use this knowledge to treat diseases. CRISPR, a revolutionary gene-editing tool, offers one way to do that. With CRISPR, researchers can “snip” DNA in living human cells and make changes to the
Can CRISPR deliver? Read More »
One way to get drugs through the blood-brain barrier: smuggle them across using sound waves. The blood-brain barrier, a name given to the tightly packed vascular cells in the brain’s capillaries, keeps the central nervous system remarkably free of most pathogens. But that defense is a major challenge for delivering drugs that treat brain disorders.
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Research findings could help improve personalized treatments for lung cancer patients. ALL CANCEROUS TUMORS contain cells that divide rapidly. There are many genetic mutations and proteins that can cause tumor cells to grow uncontrollably. A recent study suggests there are racial differences in tumor biology—a finding that might help scientists develop better personalized cancer treatments. The
Lung Cancer Biology Differs by Race, Study Shows Read More »
