| IMRT spares bladder in prostate radiation
BOSTON, Oct. 11 Intensity modulated radiation therapy, or IMRT, spares the bladder more from direct radiation compared to 3-D conformal proton therapy, a U.S. study found.
The Massachusetts General Hospital Department of Radiation Oncology and Harvard Medical School, both in Boston, jointly conducted the study to determine the comparative benefits and drawbacks of IMRT versus 3D-CPT as treatments for patients with prostate cancer and to determine whether specific cases should be assigned to one treatment method over the other.
"This study was important because it reassures a patient with prostate cancer that the methods that are available at his local hospital may, in many cases, be as good as those that are currently only available in a limited number of centers," study author Dr.
This Isn't Your Father's Airline Food
Ask anyone what they think of airline food and you'll likely get some scoffs, eye rolling, even gagging gestures. Maybe someone will sarcastically say, "What airline food? Most airlines don't have peanuts or pretzels these days, much less actual, good food." .
Race Is on for the Next Blood Thinner
Interest in anticlotting treatments is being ratcheted up at a meeting of the American Society of Hematology under way in Atlanta, where Johnson & Johnson is presenting data showing that the experimental pill rivaroxaban is superior to Lovenox, an injectable treatment marketed by Sanofi-Aventis SA, in preventing clots in patients undergoing hip- or knee-replacement surgery. Johnson & Johnson is co-developing rivaroxaban with Bayer AG of Germany, which discovered the compound. Other contenders in the market include Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., which is developing a pill called apixaban with Pfizer Inc.; Eli Lilly & Co.; Boehringer-Ingelheim GmbH of Germany; and closely held Portola Inc., South San Francisco, Calif. All are testing their drugs initially in hip- and knee-replacement patients, who often receive Lovenox.
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