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Radiation safely omitted

To: radsafe <radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu>
Subject: Radiation safely omitted
From: John Jacobus <crispy_bird@YAHOO.COM>
Date: Thu, 7 Oct 2004 10:23:17 -0700 (PDT)
Reply-To: John Jacobus <crispy_bird@YAHOO.COM>
Sender: owner-radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu

Yes, you do not need radiation to cure cancers.

---------

Radiation safely omitted after cure of Hodgkin's

disease with chemotherapy

10/5/04

By: Reuters Health

NEW YORK (Reuters Health), Oct 5 - A complete clinical

remission of Hodgkin's disease can sometimes be

achieved with chemotherapy alone, allowing children to

skip radiation therapy altogether, German physicians

reported today at the American Society for Therapeutic

Radiology and Oncology's 46th annual meeting.

Dr. Ursula Ruhl, at Moabit Hospital Berlin, led a

seven-nation study in which 1018 children with were

treated between 1995 and 2001. The patients were

assigned to one of three treatment groups -- depending

on disease stage, symptoms, and extranodal extension

-- and were treated with two to six cycles of

combination chemotherapy.

The 211 patients in whom a complete clinical remission

was achieved after chemotherapy alone received no

consolidating radiation therapy. Depending on the

amount of residual tumor, the remaining patients

received 20 to 35 Gy.

At median follow-up of 50 months, overall survival was

97%.

A total of 916 patients are in continuous complete

remission, the investigators reported. There were 38

cases of progressive disease during treatment and 57

relapses after achieving an initial complete tumor

control.

Disease-free survival for the lowest risk treatment

group was 96%. In this group the strategy definitely

worked, Dr. Ruhl told Reuters Health. "Quite a number

profited because they did not get radiation therapy at

all, with all its potential late effects."

For the other two treatment groups, disease-free

survival was 92% for those who received adjuvant

radiation. The relapse rate was higher for those who

did not receive consolidating radiation (69% to 77%).

Very few children needed radiation doses as high as 35

Gy, Dr. Ruhl noted, so during the next clinical trial

"we can probably cut down the radiation dose" for all

but the most advanced cases.

"In the next trial we will include biological markers,

such as PET scanning, to see if they will help to

identify patients who need definitely radiation," she

added.

Last Updated: 2004-10-05 11:43:10 -0400 (Reuters

Health)