WESTON, Fla. – Researchers are touting a breakthrough in the treatment of cancerous tumors with radiation.
In addition to pinpointed therapy, which prevents damage to surrounding tissues, authors of an article published in the medical journal Lancet Oncology revealed that scientists have developed a way to calculate and adjust the radiation dose based on the genetic makeup of the tumor.
“What the study kind of showed when they looked at 1600 different patients in seven different tumor types they found that when they used this genomically adjusted dose they could predict the benefit of a particular dose of radiation for each individual patient,” said Tony Nikolaev, a radiation oncologist at Cleveland Clinic Weston.
Nikolaev said this personalized approach increased survivability and better-controlled tumor growth and the therapy should be available within the next few months.
Minorities get more severe flu
And a recent cross-sectional study is finding that racial and ethnic minority patients had more severe outcomes from the seasonal flu than Caucasian patients.
The study involving over 100,000 flu patients found that African Americans had approximately a 30% higher hospitalization rate compared to non-Hispanic whites.
Blacks also had double the rate of I.C.U admissions compared to whites.
To combat these disparities, the C.D.C. is developing programs to reach communities with lower vaccination rates.
The flu vaccine is recommended for every six months of age or older.