Shorter courses of radiotherapy
Between 2004 and 2020, there was a notable change in how doctors treated prostate cancer in the US, as reported in JAMA Oncology. A research team studied data from the National Cancer Database involving 313,062 patients with localized prostate cancer.
By 2020, the most common radiotherapy treatments for low- and intermediate-risk patients were ultrahypo-ractionation and moderate hypofractionation, respectively.
The study also showed that using shorter courses of radiotherapy was more common for patients at community cancer programs compared to academic or research programs, those with Medicaid insurance versus Medicare, Black patients versus White patients, and those with higher incomes.
The authors suggest that making hypofractionation more financially appealing could help more people access this treatment, especially those in underserved communities.
Health Day News. 2023 Oct 10.
