Dear Radiation Oncology Insider,
When a woman gets a diagnosis of early breast cancer, at least two fears cross her mind: Will the cancer be caught in time, and what will my breast look like after treatment? And regarding radiation therapy, specifically: Will what remains of my breast get burned, change color, become lumpy, harden, or shrink? Just read the Internet breast cancer message boards, such as the one at www.Komen.org.
A newly published study, which is the subject of this newsletter's Insider Exclusive, can reassure your patients that their breasts will not shrink due to radiation therapy. AuntMinnie.com's readers include cancer survivors and their families, and we welcome them.
Speaking of welcoming, if you're interested in news exclusive to Europe, check out the brand new AuntMinnieEurope.com website launched at the just concluded European Congress of Radiology. Another new publication worth mentioning is Practical Radiation Oncology, published by the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO). We've summarized its articles on maintaining patient safety and quality control.
We're also highlighting some positive news in our Radiation Oncology Digital Community:
- Read about how lymph node dissection may be safely limited in breast cancer patients, even if patients have a positive sentinel node.
- Learn about trial results showing that acute toxicities in anal cancer patients can be reduced by using intensity-modulated radiation therapy instead of conventional radiation therapy.
- And from medicalphysicsweb, find out how Dutch researchers determined a method of image correction to effectively use MR image guidance to reduce target positioning errors.
If you have a comment, report, or article idea to share about any aspect of radiation oncology, I invite you to contact me.
