EXTENDINGLIFE
WITHRADIOTHERAPY
It’snotnecessarilytheinitial
tumourthatmakescancerdeadly,
butthespreadofthediseaseto
otherpartsofthebody.Atthat
point,manycancersareconsidered
incurable.Buttwonewstudies
haveshownthathigh-dose
radiation,orradiotherapy,tothe
newtumourscanprolonglives.
Inonemulti-nationalstudy,almost
halfthepatientswithlung,colon
andbreastcancersthathadspread
werestillalivefiveyearsafterbeing
givenradiotherapy,comparedto
onlya quarterwhosurvivedinthe
controlgroupwithnoradiotherapy
treatment.AsecondSwiss-
UKstudyofmenwithprostate
cancerreportedthatradiotherapy
improvedsurvivalinmenwhose
cancerhadmovedbeyondthe
prostatewhenthemetastases
werelimitedtolymph nodes or
nearby bones.FishOilProves
ItsWorth
Manypeopletakefishoiltolower
theirheartdiseaserisk.Butdoes
it work?Arecentstudyhasjust
providedthebestevidenceyetthatit
can.Peoplewithhightriglyceride
levelswhotook 4000 mgofthe
purifiedfishoilsupplementVascepa
(icosapentethyl)perdayreduced
theirriskofheartattackandstrokeby
about 25 percentcomparedtothose
whotooka placebo.Vascepacontains
4000 mgofeicosapentaenoicacid
(EPA),oneofthetwomainomega 3
fattyacidsthatearlierresearch
suggestedwerebeneficial.The
makersarecurrentlyseekingnew
indicationsforVascepawiththe
USFDA,afterwhichit maystartto
become available in other countries.Ten-MinuteCancerTest
Australianresearchershavedevelopeda testthatcan
detectcancerintenminuteswith 90 percentaccuracy.
What’smore,saysthestudy,publishedinDecember
2018 inNatureCommunications, the“processcanbe
detectedbythenakedeyeasa visualcolourchange.”DNA
derivedfrombloodplasmaisaddedtowatermixedwithgold
nano-particles.Pinkmeanscancerispresent;bluemeanscellsare
ILLUSTRATIONS: SHUTTERSTOCKhealthy. If cancer is detected, diagnostics must be run to identify its source.
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Medical Breakthroughs