Study develops therapy for cancer
A research conducted at University of California Irvine Medical Center has developed a new therapy that, if delivered endoscopically, in combination with radiation therapy and chemotherapy, can prove beneficial for patients suffering from advanced esophageal cancer. The new biological therapy (TNFerade), in which an agent preventing tumor is injected, was tried on 24 patients of the highly fatal form of cancer. The treatment has a non-replicating virus, engineered to deliver the gene for a protein that fights cancer.

A recent study conducted at
Pancreatic cancer, difficult to detect in the early stages and having incidence of recurring in the postoperative stage, has found an effective treatment in chemo-radiotherapy. Gemcitabine, an effective radio-sensitizer, has led to better results in patients suffering with this form of cancer, increasing survival with a clinical benefit. A study conducted by Pancreatic Diseases Branch of Kyushu University in Japan, using a schedule that infused gemcitabine twice weekly for patients suffering with locally advanced pancreatic cancer gave positive results on the survival rate and median survival time.
Swiss doctors have executed the country’s first clinical treatments using RapidArc™ technology from 
The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) this month became the first U.S. medical center to offer a speedier cancer radiation therapy. The new RapidArc therapy, which is the next-generation of intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT), can turn a 20-minute radiotherapy session into a 90-second session for selected cancer patients. Additionally, the new therapy saves healthy human tissue from unwanted radiation exposure at rates that are similar to or better than other radiotherapy techniques. Faster radiation delivery times reduce the chances that a slight move will affect the accuracy of the radiotherapy targeting.