{"id":9968,"date":"2025-02-13T16:49:39","date_gmt":"2025-02-13T08:49:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/?p=9968"},"modified":"2025-02-13T18:02:43","modified_gmt":"2025-02-13T10:02:43","slug":"short-course-radiation-therapy-effective-for-endometrial-cancer-patients","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/short-course-radiation-therapy-effective-for-endometrial-cancer-patients\/","title":{"rendered":"Short-course radiation therapy effective for endometrial cancer patients"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In a randomized clinical trial, researchers from\u00a0Huntsman Cancer Institute\u00a0at the\u00a0University of Utah\u00a0(the U) have found that short-course, higher dose vaginal brachytherapy for endometrial cancer had similar effectiveness to more frequent, lower dose sessions.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gita Suneja, MD, MS, physician-scientist at Huntsman Cancer Institute and professor of radiation oncology at the U, is the first author of the SAVE trial report\u2014which stands for, Short-Course Adjuvant Vaginal Cuff Brachytherapy in Early Endometrial Cancer Compared with Standard of Care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere isn\u2019t high quality-data on optimal dose and schedule for brachytherapy treatments. Because of this, practice patterns really vary,\u201d says Suneja. \u201cThe SAVE trial sought to try to lower the number of treatments that patients were receiving but maintain short-term quality of life and disease control.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Endometrial cancer\u00a0is a disease that begins in the lining of the uterus. The primary treatment for endometrial cancer is surgery, including the removal of the uterus, cervix, and upper vagina.\u00a0Brachytherapy, a form of internal radiation, is used as a secondary treatment to prevent the cancer\u2019s return. Patients receiving vaginal cuff brachytherapy are treated with internal radiation by way of an applicator in the vaginal cavity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The SAVE trial compared two groups who received different treatment doses over a varying number of sessions. The control group received the standard treatment\u2014between three to five appointments with lower doses. The experimental group received higher doses of radiation in just two sessions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The researchers found similarly effective short-term outcomes and few acute toxicities for the patients in the experimental group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Suneja says the study outcomes will help improve cancer care for Huntsman Cancer Institute patients across the\u00a0five states of the Mountain West.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hard for patients to get to us, especially those in a rural and frontier environment like many of our patients at Huntsman Cancer Institute,\u201d says Suneja. \u201cWe recognize this is an enormous burden for people to come here for treatment, on top of dealing with a difficult diagnosis. We are motivated to better serve our rural population, and the results of this study will give us a way to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

David Gaffney, MD, PhD, FACR, FABS, FASTRO, physician-scientist at Huntsman Cancer Institute and professor of radiation oncology at the U, developed the idea for the SAVE study after seeing patient need. According to the American Cancer Society,\u00a0endometrial cancer is the most common cancer\u00a0of the female reproductive organs. Incidence is on the rise, as is the mortality rate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are very grateful for the support and the enthusiasm from our clinical colleagues at MD Anderson, Loyola, Intermountain Healthcare, and Stanford, the institutions that also participated in the SAVE trial,\u201d says Gaffney. \u201cWe are particularly grateful for the patients that agreed to participate in the study. It is a big win when we can preserve good outcomes and make cancer care easier.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The results of the SAVE trial<\/a> were published in JCO Oncology Advances<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Short-course, higher dose vaginal brachytherapy for endometrial cancer had similar effectiveness to more frequent, lower dose sessions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":9971,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[635,887,1308,912,2048,2218,247],"class_list":["post-9968","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsmakers","tag-cancer","tag-cancer-prevention","tag-cancer-signs","tag-cancer-treatment","tag-good-life","tag-high-life","tag-womens-health"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9968","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9968"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9968\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9972,"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9968\/revisions\/9972"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9971"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9968"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9968"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9968"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}