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Radiation, a mainstay of cancer treatment, begins a fade-out
Every year, doctors get better tools to fight cancer. Engineered cancer-killing cells, immunotherapies, targeted drugs, and more are helping clinicians cure more patients. Increasingly, though, oncologists are trying to use less radiation, long one of the main pillars of cancer therapy. In some cases, they are even keeping certain patients with low-risk tumors off radiation entirely.
“We can do better surgeries, better supportive care, better chemotherapy, more effective chemotherapy. We have better scans to stage people properly and better molecular tests,” said Michael Cecchini, an oncologist who treats gastrointestinal cancers at the Yale Cancer Center. “That’s when we can start going back to the drawing board and instead of adding on something new to cure more people, asking if we can modify what we’re doing to reduce the toxicity.”
Source: Stat News