Digital Radiography News

According to a recent study by a team of international researchers led by Beaumont Health System's Jan Akervall, M.D., Ph.D., examined biomarkers to determine their overall effectiveness in radiation treatments for patients with squamous cell cancer of the head and neck. They recognized two markers that were good at predicting a patient's resistance to radiation therapy. The study’s findings were eventually published in a recent issue of the European Journal of Cancer. "Radiation therapy is a common treatment for people with squamous cell cancer of the head and neck. However, it's not always well-tolerated. It can take two months, resulting in lots of side effects. Some of these complications are permanent. Before my patient goes down that path, I really want to know if their tumors are going to respond to radiation. That's where the patient's biomarkers can shed some light. If not, we can look at other treatment options - saving time, possible risk for complications and expense,” explained Akervall, who also serves as co-director, Head and Neck Cancer Multidisciplinary Clinic, Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak, and clinical director of Beaumont's BioBank. A biomarker is a gene or a set of genes or its derivatives, RNA, and proteins, that researchers use to predict an important clinical issue such as diagnosis, prognosis, and response to treatment, choice of treatment or recurrence. Biomarker studies can offer a bridge between the gap made by emerging molecular information and clinical treatment. Biomarkers may also lead to personalized treatment, in contrast to protocol-based medicine of today. "Personalized treatment decisions based on biomarkers go beyond traditional cancer staging classifications. Individualized treatment plans could reduce morbidity and potentially improve survival by avoiding treatment failures.There is reason to believe that a better understanding of the biological properties of these tumors, as measured in the patient's pre-treatment biopsies, may lead us to predict the response to radiation therapy and concurrent chemoradiation, thus allowing for tailored patient-specific treatment strategies,” said Akervall. The study followed and observed two groups of patients. Within the first cohort of patients, researchers screened 18,000 genes and identified five distinct markers. The second cohort was much larger and verified these findings (two of them in particular). Two markers had a high propensity at predicting whether or not radiation-based therapy would be effective. "While our findings are encouraging, and a step toward personalized medicine, we hope to do more of this research with a larger, randomized trial,” said Akervall.According to the National Cancer Institute, most cancers of the head and neck usually begin in the squamous cells that line the moist surfaces of the mouth, nose and throat. Three risk factors identified with squamous cell carcinomas of the head and neck include; tobacco and alcohol use, as well as infection with cancer-causing types of human papillomavirus or ... Read more

According to a recent study, patients watched television shows or movies through specialized video glasses while undergoing a biopsy or any other minimally invasive medical procedure. The study’s findings are set to be presented at the Society of Interventional Radiology's 39th Annual Scientific Meeting. And while interventional radiology treatments provide less risk, less pain, and less recovery time as opposed to open surgery, patients can still be nervous about them and their possible results. Researchers have rationed out strategies and plans other than medication in order to diminish anxiety, including having the patient listen to music or undergo hypnosis; however, these methods only have slight and minor benefits at best. "Interventional radiologists are focused on innovation and creativity by applying novel devices to variable situations. Our study, which is the first of its kind for interventional radiology treatments, puts a spin on using modern technology to provide a safe, potentially cost-effective strategy of reducing anxiety, which can help and improve patient care," said lead author of the study and professor and chair of the department of imaging sciences at the University of Rochester Medical Center in Rochester, N.Y., David L. Waldman, M.D., Ph.D., FSIR. "Whether they were watching a children's movie or a nature show, patients wearing video glasses were successful at tuning out their surroundings," he noted. "It's an effective distraction technique that helps focus the individual's attention away from the treatment," Waldman added. The study involved 49 patients (33 men and 16 women, ages 18-87) who were receiving an outpatient interventional radiology treatment, such as a biopsy or placement of a catheter in the arm or chest to receive medication for treating cancer or infection. Twenty-five of the 49 patients put on video glasses prior to undergoing the treatment while 24 did not. Patients chose from a selection of 20 videos, none of which were violent in content. All filled out a standard 20-question test called the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory Form Y before and after the procedure to evaluate their level of anxiety. Patients who wore video glasses were 18.1 percent less anxious following treatment than they were prior to treatment, while those who didn't wear video glasses were only 7.5 percent less anxious following treatment. “The presence of the video glasses did not bother either the patient or the doctor. There was no significant effect on blood pressure heart rate, respiratory rate, pain, procedure time, or amount of sedation or pain medication,” noted Waldman. "Patients told us the video glasses really helped calm them down and took their mind off the treatment, and we now offer video glasses to help distract patients from medical treatment going on mere inches away. It is really comforting for patients, especially the ones who tend to be more nervous," he ... Read more

According to a recent study, cells normally self-destruct when permanent glitches take place in their DNA. Programmed cell death, or apoptosis, helps insure that cells with damaged DNA do not grow and duplicate to produce more mutated cells. ... Read more

According to a recent study, provisional analysis of the intergroup EORTC-LYSA-FIL 20051 H10 trial published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology points to an increased risk of early relapse when eliminating radiotherapy in early PET scan negative ... Read more

According to a recent study, researchers have managed to exploit the ability of an organism to evolve in reaction to punishment from a volatile environment. The researchers have cajoled the model bacterium Escherichia coli to significantly resist ... Read more

According to a new study by Yale School of Medicine researchers have found a quicker and less expensive form of radiotherapy designed for treating prostate cancer may come at a price. The standard external beam radiation therapy for prostate cancer is called intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT). Stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) is a newer kind of treatment that administers a greater dose of radiation per treatment than IMRT. As a result, patients receiving SBRT can complete an entire course of treatment in one to two weeks, as opposed to seven to nine weeks for IMRT. In relation,there have been few studies comparing the costs of these treatments, and their toxicity. This new study, published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by researchers at the Cancer Outcomes, Public Policy and Effectiveness Research (COPPER) Center at Yale Cancer Center, compared IMRT to SBRT in a national sample of 4,005, Medicare patients aged 66 and older receiving prostate cancer treatment. Participants underwent either SBRT or IMRT as a primary treatment for prostate cancer during 2008 to 2011. "All the reports we have about the toxicity of SBRT comes from pioneering institutions. But now that SBRT is being used nationally, it is important to determine the costs and complications on a national level," said first author and assistant professor of therapeutic radiology at Yale Cancer Center, James Yu, M.D. Yu, senior author Cary Gross, M.D., and their colleagues discovered that the average per-patient cost to Medicare for a course of SBRT was about $13,600, as opposed to $21,000 for IMRT. Furthermore, the team found that at 24 months following the start of the treatment, there were increased side effects for SBRT as opposed to IMRT, as a result of urethral irritation, urinary incontinence, and obstruction. However, even when including the cost of treating complications, the overall medical costs due to SBRT were still lower than that of IMRT. "While these data are by no means definitive, our findings emphasize the need to carefully assess the impact of new cancer treatment technologies in actual practice," said Gross, professor of internal medicine at Yale School of Medicine, and director of the Yale COPPER Center at Yale Cancer ... Read more

Cancer is the second most common cause of death in Switzerland. There are various reasons why in the age of cutting-edge medicine it is still difficult to fashion a cure for this disease. A tumor may, for instance, comprise of different tumor cell subpopulations, each of which has its own profile and reacts differently when subjected to therapy, or not. Additionally, the cancer cells and the healthy cells in the body interact and communicate with one another. How a tumor then actually develops and whether metastases form simply relies on which signals a tumor cell receives from its surrounding environment. With the development of a new method the team led by Prof. Bernd Bodenmiller from the Institute of Molecular Life Sciences at the University of Zurich, in collaboration with ETH Zurich and University Hospital Zurich, has succeeded in comprehensively profiling and visualizing tumor cells from patient samples. This promising new method has since been published in Nature Methods. In an effort to determine a tumor's cell profile, its environment relationships and the circuit structure within and in between cells is a highly multifaceted enterprise. This is because the biomarkers, i.e. the particular molecules of the various cell types and their circuits, have to be measured in their spatial relationships. "With our method it is possible to obtain a comprehensive picture using a novel imaging technique that currently can simultaneously record 32, and in the near future more than one hundred biomarkers. Furthermore, thanks to state-of-the-art imaging the information about the cells' neighborhood relationships is kept and their direct impact on the cellular switch and control circuits can be visualized,” explains study coordinator, Bernd Bodenmiller. The new method is predicated on techniques which are already routinely applied and used in hospitals, with two significant innovations. First, the biomarkers are visualized using pure metal isotopes instead of dyes. To accomplish this, biomarkers are set on very thin tissue sections are labelled with antibodies. The antibodies are joined to the pure metal isotopes. Then tiny pieces of tissue are extracted with a laser system developed by Prof. Detlef Günther from the ETH Zurich, and the metal isotopes of the pieces are measured with a mass spectrometer which can determine the mass and quantity of the individual metal isotopes. "This trick gets round the problem of the limited number of colours in the analysis of biological samples," noted Bodenmiller. Secondly, information about the cells, and their control circuits, is no longer qualitative. With the new measurement method it is possible to accurately determine which cells experience what effect and to what extent. In this way the weak points of the control system can be pinpointed and this helps in the development of new therapeutic approaches and methods. According to Bodenmiller, this is the reason on why it is becoming increasingly important to understand these interactions for diagnosis and therapy. The preliminary measurement results of the new biomarker technique for breast cancer have shown the heterogeneity of tumors. As a result of major growth, some tumors suffer from oxygen shortage on the inside, while others mistreat the body's own immune cells to further their growth. Cell-cell interaction and cell location in the center or on the edges of the tumor also have a vital impact. One thing is certain: no tumor is like any other and Bodenmiller believes that treatment should be based on this principle. For their next phase, his research team wishes to use the new measurement method to explore the roles played by control circuits and cell communication in metastasis ... Read more

Researchers at the Cedars-Sinai Maxine Dunitz Neurosurgical Institute and Department of Neurosurgery have developed a unique, compact, relatively cost-effective imaging device to "light up" malignant brain tumors and other cancers. The experimental imaging modality comprises of a special camera designed and developed at Cedars-Sinai and a new, targeted imaging agent predicated on a synthetic version of a small protein, a peptide, located in the venom of the deathstalker scorpion. The imaging agent, Tumor Paint BLZ-100, a product of Blaze Bioscience Inc., homes to brain tumor cells. When enthused by a laser in the near-infrared part of the spectrum, it emanates a glow that is invisible to the eye but can be captured by the camera. Results of animal studies, published as the feature article in the February issue of Neurosurgical Focus, provide the basis for the launch of human clinical trials. The system would be used during surgery to determine if it allows neurosurgeons to remove more tumor and spare more healthy tissue. Malignant brain tumors called gliomas are among the most fatal of tumors, with patients usually surviving only around 15 months following diagnosis. "We know that survival statistics increase if we can remove all of a tumor, but it is impossible to visualize with the naked eye where tumor stops and brain tissue starts, and current imaging systems don't provide a definitive view," said chair and professor of the Department of Neurosurgery, the article's senior author, Keith Black, MD. "Gliomas have tentacles that invade normal tissue and present big challenges for neurosurgeons: Taking out too much normal brain tissue can have catastrophic consequences, but stopping short of total removal gives remaining cancer cells a head start on growing back. That's why we have worked to develop imaging systems that will provide a clear distinction, during surgery, between diseased tissue and normal brain," said Black, who also serves as the director of the Maxine Dunitz Neurosurgical Institute, director of the Johnnie L. Cochran, Jr. Brain Tumor Center and the Ruth and Lawrence Harvey Chair in Neuroscience. In studies in laboratory mice with implanted human brain tumors, the new imaging system clearly defined tumor tissue from normal brain tissue. Additionally, with near-infrared light's ability to penetrate deep into the tissue, the system identified tumors that had moved away from the main tumor and would have otherwise gone undetected. Pramod Butte, MBBS, PhD, research scientist and assistant professor in the Department of Neurosurgery, the article's first author, explained the tumor-imaging process comprises of two parts: deploying a fluorescent "dye" that latches only onto cancer cells, and using a laser and a special camera to render an invisible image visible. To get the dye to the tumor, it is connected to a peptide called chlorotoxin, which, converse to its name, is not toxic. It totally ignores normal tissue, yet seeks out and binds to a range of malignant tumor cells. It first was derived from the venom of the yellow Israeli scorpion, also called the deathstalker. Article co-author Adam Mamelak, MD, professor of neurosurgery and director of functional neurosurgery, has studied the synthetic version of chlorotoxin and its tumor-targeting properties for more than a decade. In this study, chlorotoxin was binded to a molecule, indocyanine green, a near-infrared dye, a version of which already is approved by the Food and Drug Administration. The chlorotoxin-indocyanine green combination, Tumor Paint BLZ-100, gives off a glow when stimulated by near-infrared light. "Injected intravenously, the chlorotoxin seeks out the brain tumor, carrying with it indocyanine green, which has been used in a variety of medical imaging applications. When we shine a near-infrared laser on the tissue, the tumor glows. But the glow emitted by the tumor is invisible to the human eye," said Butte, whose MBBS is India's equivalent of an MD. The camera device, designed in Butte's lab, solves this problem by capturing two images and combining them on a high-definition monitor. "Other experimental systems we have seen, which use different tumor-targeting methods, are larger and bulkier because they consist of two cameras," Butte said. "Our single-camera device takes both near-infrared and white light images simultaneously. This is achieved by alternately strobing the laser and normal white lights at very high speeds. The eye just sees normal light, but the camera is capturing white light once, near-infrared light next, over and over. We then superimpose the two HD images. The image from the laser shows the tumor, and the image produced from white light shows the visible 'landscape' so we can see where the tumor is in context to what we actually can see." The prototype is compact, but the authors said they are working to make the next generations even smaller, lighter and portable so the device will require very little space in operating room, allowing the neurosurgeon to focus on the operating microscope and give little attention on the imaging system. "We hope that eventually the camera can be transported in a small bag, but we are not sacrificing image quality for portability," Butte said. "In fact, most systems that use two cameras lose a lot of light. But because of the special filters we use and the way we arrange them, we lose very little light. And from what we have seen and tested, our device provides about 10 times greater sensitivity and contrast than others." In an editorial accompanying the journal article, David W. Roberts, MD, from the Section of Neurosurgery at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College, said the Cedars-Sinai "paper presents a newer direction in which fluorescence-guided surgery may well be headed." He noted that the researchers overcame one of the limitations of near-infrared technology -- that it is outside of the visible portion of the spectrum. "In this regard, Butte and colleagues have contributed to the field with their implementation of an optical system that is sensitive and efficient. They have characterized well its performance in phantom and animal models, demonstrating proof-of-concept and ... Read more

According to researchers at Duke Medicine and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, veterans who have exposed to blasts and do not report signs of traumatic brain injury (TBI) may still have damage to the brain's white matter similar to veterans with TBI. The findings, published in the Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation, suggest that a lack of apparent TBI symptoms following an explosion may not precisely portray the degree of brain injury. Veterans of recent military conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan often have a history of exposure to explosive forces from bombs, grenades, and other devices, although relatively little is known about whether this injures the brain. However, evidence is piling up, especially among professional athletes, that subconcussive events have an effect on the brain. "Similar to sports injuries, people near an explosion assume that if they don’t have clear symptoms, losing consciousness, blurred vision, headaches, they haven’t had injury to the brain. Our findings are important because they’re showing that even if you don’t have symptoms, there may still be damage,” said senior author and associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Duke University School of Medicine and a psychiatrist at the Durham Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Rajendra A. Morey, M.D. Researchers in the Mid-Atlantic Mental Illness Research, Education and Clinical Center at the W.G. (Bill) Hefner Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Salisbury, N.C., examined 45 U.S. veterans who volunteered to participate in the study. The veterans, who served since September 2001, were separated into three groups: veterans with a history of blast exposure with symptoms of TBI; veterans with a history of blast exposure without symptoms of TBI; and veterans without blast exposure. The study primarily focused on veterans with primary blast exposure, or blast exposure without external injuries, and did not include those with brain injury from direct hits to the head. In order to measure injury to the brain, the researchers used a type of MRI called Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI). DTI can spot injury to the brain’s white matter by measuring the flow of fluid in the brain. In healthy white matter, fluid moves in a directional pattern, implying that the white matter fibers are undamaged. Injured fibers allow the fluid to diffuse. White matter is the connective wiring that joins different regions of the brain. Since most cognitive processes involve several parts of the brain operating together, injury to white matter can significantly harm the brain’s communication network and may result in cognitive ailments. Both cohorts of veterans who were near an explosion, regardless of whether they had TBI symptoms, demonstrated a tremendous amount of injury as opposed to the veterans not exposed to an explosion. The injury was not restricted to one area of the brain, and each individual had a different pattern of injury. Using neuropsychological testing to evaluate cognitive performance, the researchers found a link between the amount of white matter injury and changes in reaction time and the ability to switch between mental tasks. However, brain injury was not asscociated to performance on other cognitive tests, including decision-making and organization. “We expected the group that reported few symptoms at the time of primary blast exposure to be similar to the group without exposure. It was a surprise to find relatively similar DTI changes in both groups exposed to primary blast. We are not sure whether this indicates differences among individuals in symptoms-reporting or subconcussive effects of primary blast. It is clear there is more we need to know about the functional consequences of blast exposures,” said research health scientist at the W.G. (Bill) Hefner Veterans Affairs Medical Center and the study’s lead author, Katherine H. Taber, Ph.D. Given the study’s findings, the researchers noted clinicians treating veterans should take into account a person’s exposure to explosive forces, even among those who did not initially show symptoms of TBI. In the future, they may use brain imaging to support clinical tests. “Imaging could potentially augment the existing approaches that clinicians use to evaluate brain injury by looking below the surface for TBI pathology,” Morey said. The researchers said that the results are at this time preliminary, and should be duplicated in a much larger ... Read more

Research conducted by the Beaumont Health System radiation oncologists and neurosurgeons discovered that symptoms of trigeminal neuralgia, or TN, a nerve disorder causing extreme facial pain, was significantly decreased in patients treated with Gamma Knife stereotactic radiosurgery. The results have since been published recently in the journal Clinical Neurology and Neurosurgery. TN is a disorder of the trigeminal nerve, which is in charge for feeling in the face. In most cases, the facial pain is caused by a blood vessel putting pressure on the nerve by pressing on it. It is believed that TN is a result of deterioration of the protective covering of the trigeminal nerve.   "The Gamma Knife is not actually a knife. Gamma Knife stereotactic radiosurgery is a nonsurgical technique that precisely delivers a high dose of radiation to a targeted area. It sends more than 200 beams of gamma radiation, while the low intensity of the individual beams avoids causing damage to the surrounding tissues,” said radiation oncologist, Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak and associate professor, Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine, Inga Grills, M.D.   In addition to serving as principal investigator, Grills and a team of Beaumont researchers analyzed data of 149 patients who were treated with Gamma Knife Stereotactic Radiosurgery, or GK SRS.   After the treatment, patients were assessed in a period of two weeks, then every three to six months. Patients reported if they experienced normal, decreased or no facial pain. Researchers concluded GK SRS provides satisfactory relief for those with TN, particularly those who are not fitted or have failed medical or surgical treatments.   "This study demonstrates patients with severe facial pain caused by trigeminal neuralgia will experience less discomfort after Gamma Knife Stereotactic Radiosurgery. They can resume daily activities such as brushing their teeth, washing their face and even smiling, without the unbearable sensation that is often caused by this condition," explains Grills.   According to the American Association of Neurological Surgeons, roughly 150,000 people are diagnosed with TN on an annual basis. Women over the age of 50 are among those who are most commonly diagnosed. Those at risk are people with high-blood pressure or with multiple sclerosis. ... Read more

A new study led by Alexey Ryazanov, a professor of pharmacology at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and member of the Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, suggests finding a way to make chemotherapy and radiation more effective as cancer treatments than they currently are, in addition to removing crippling side effects that patients fear. Side effects such as heart damage, nausea, and hair loss happens when cancer therapy kills healthy cells alongside the malignant cells that are being targeted. It is a medical form of collateral damage. However, Ryazanov delineates that if a way could be found to safeguard those healthy cells, then doses of chemo and radiation could actually be increased, "killing all the cancer cells and the patient would be cured. We also could start treating cancers that now can't be cured because the most effective doses are too toxic to normal tissues." The solution to Ryazanov's vision of cancer treatment is addition by subtraction, particularly elimination of eEF2K, an enzyme that impacts the rates at which proteins are created in the human body. Ryazanov first identified eEF2K more than a quarter century ago, and since then, bit by bit, he and other scientists have uncovered many intricate processes for which that enzyme is responsible. Ryazanov's latest findings, published in the journal Developmental Cell, reveal that the existence of eEF2K deliberately weakens healthy cells. His evidence is the enzyme's involvement in a process where defective cells involved in reproduction are degraded and ultimately destroyed, as a means to preserve genetic quality from one generation to the next. “Still, there is eEF2K in every cell in the body, the enzyme's presence tends to leave cells less robust than they otherwise would be.It is that added weakness that leaves healthy cells vulnerable to being poisoned by chemo and radiation,” Ryazanov explained. Ryazanov notes that removing the enzyme would make those healthy cells stronger, to the point where they would survive cancer therapy, and that, in turn, would terminate the side effects. Yet, how would healthy cells survive cancer treatment while malignant cells would not? Ryazanov explains that tumors grow and cancer spreads when malignant cells divide and duplicate. Chemo and radiation are purposefully designed to obstruct cell division, and Ryazanov says removing the enzyme eEF2K actually makes the cancer cells more susceptible to the treatment. By contrast, as long as healthy cells are strong enough to resist being poisoned, the cancer therapies won't hurt them. In 2008, Ryazanov founded Longevica Pharmaceuticals, a company whose mission is to perfect medications designed to eliminate the enzyme and improve the performance of chemo and radiation. Animal testing is has already been commenced, and Ryazanov hopes that his new findings will lead to the day when medications that pass those tests can be tried in people. He even predicts that taking such a drug may be as easy as swallowing a pill. Ryazanov says there is a comforting logic to the research and drug development that have become his life's work, due to the fact that the cancer therapies he wants to enhance and improve already exist and are known to work. “Making chemo and radiation less toxic can make those therapies dramatically more effective in the relatively near future, while other cutting-edge approaches to cancer treatment might need far more time to prove their ultimate worth,” he ... Read more

According to a research study presented at the 2014 Multidisciplinary Head and Neck Cancer Symposium, patients who underwent daily humidification of the mouth and throat area starting from day one of radiation therapy treatment spent nearly 50 percent fewer days in the hospital to manage their side effects. The study was carried out by the Trans Tasman Radiation Oncology Group and assessed 210 head and neck cancer patients in New Zealand and Australia from June 2007 through June 2011. Patients in this Phase III trial were randomized to institutional standard of care (control arm) or humidification (HUM) using the Fisher & Paykel Healthcare MR880 humidifier. The humidified air is administered through the nose through a plastic interface (mask-type apparatus) that can be worn by patients while sleeping or while sitting during the day. Patients began HUM on the first day of radiation therapy and continued until the ulceration their mouth and throat had subsided. On average, HUM patients spent 57 percent as many days in the hospital to manage side effects (control = 4.1 days vs. HUM = 2.3 days). The recurrence of normal eating patterns was also considerably higher at three months following radiotherapy in the group using humidifiers. (Nutritional Mode score at 20 weeks, a clinician-reported assessment of nutritional status, control = 4.8 vs. HUM = 5.23.) Only 43 patients (42 percent of the patients in the HUM arm) met the outlined standard of HUM fulfillment and were able to contribute to the per protocol (PP) analysis; the mean average use of humidification for these patients was 3.6 hours per day (range of 0-14 hours/day). In patients who met the HUM defined benchmark, the area under the curve for CTCAE version 3.0 functional mucositis score (a clinician assessment of mucositis symptom burden for patients) was reduced (control = 8.63 vs. HUM PP = 6.74). The proportion of compliant HUM patients who never required a feeding tube was also increased (control = 0.73 vs. HUM PP = 0.85). There was also a tendency for patients to report a reduction in symptom burden when using humidification but only in those patients compliant in using the humidifier. "Mucositis (inflammation and ulceration of the mouth and throat) is a painful side effect of radiation therapy that can negatively affect patients' quality of life. This study has provided efficacy signals consistent with a role for humidification in reducing symptom burden for patients during radiotherapy for head and neck cancer. Preventing or reducing hospitalizations may also mean it is cost effective. The rationale for using humidification is based on the fact that moisturizing wounds generally helps them heal faster," said Andrew Macann, FRANZCR, lead author of the study and a radiation oncologist at Auckland City Hospital in Auckland, New Zealand. "These results are encouraging, particularly given the signals favoring humidification were seen across clinician-reported outcomes, patient-reported outcomes and independent data such as hospitalizations. Although patients in the study did not use the humidifiers as much as was hoped, we obtained feedback about why some patients did not like using the humidifier. Our next step is to work at increasing the proportion of patients who use the humidifier ... Read more