Long-Term After-Effects Of Radiotherapy
A team led by Dr Linda Douw, from the Department of Neurology at VU University Medical Centre in Amsterdam has published a long-term follow-up study of low-grade glioma patients which set out to track the cognitive and radiological effects of radiotherapy.
You can read a BBC News article on the study here.
The Lancet Neurology summary can be read here.
The Dutch team concludes that the higher ten-year survival rates of patients with low-grade glioma meant that radiotherapy held out considerable risk of lowering brain function further down the road. In most circumstances, radiotherapy should be deferred if at all possible.
Commenting in the same issue of Lancet Neurology, the Mayo Clinic’s Paul Brown and Jane Cerhan argued that improvements in the delivery of radiotherapy over the timescale of the study made its results hard to interpret.
The BBC quotes Dr Jeremy Rees, of Cancer Research UK, who says,
Surgery is generally a preferred option with chemotherapy or radiotherapy coming into play at a later stage, if the glioma progresses.
Continued research and increased knowledge about the disease is enabling us to treat it increasingly effectively while reducing side effects.
August 10, 2009
Posted in: News from BTA
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