3 ms·

Radiation oncologist here, the radiation dose delivered (32Gy whole brain in 1.6Gy BID) with boost to tumors is highly unusual and outdated. It causes short ter

Radiation oncologist here, the radiation dose delivered (32Gy whole brain in 1.6Gy BID) with boost to tumors is highly unusual and outdated. It causes short term memory loss at a higher rate than stereotactic radiosurgery - which is the preferred standard of care for unresectable BM if the disease is limited. Stereotactic radiosurgery regularly achieves control rates >70% without any radiosensitizers. That said, solid work, and bravo if L-Arginine works. Next most obvious work would be to test in stereotactic radiosurgery.

nashequilibrium 5y ago
Im just curious, why is a Radiation oncologist on HN?
- robbiep 5y ago
  Not op but rad oncs are a weird bunch. They get to play with cool machines and imaging and there is a natural overlap with coding and software. There are a number of medical fields like this. So I’m guessing somewhere along those lines (which is a bit like me, but my applications are less clinical!)
- sniperjoe360 5y ago
  I felt the same way, what's an article about radiation oncology doing here on HN? :) Ditto to the comment below. Former coder turned doctor. Radiation Oncology was a quasi natural choice (radiology and emergency medicine are also very tech heavy fields!) Still interested in coding.
panabee 5y ago
What makes for a good radiosensitizer? It seems gold is pretty popular at the moment as well, so curious what properties in particular are amenable to rendering a substance a good radiosensitizer? Thanks for sharing!
- sniperjoe360 5y ago
  The only FDA approved radiosensitizers are chemotherapy based (i.e. platinum, taxol). Vitamin B3 (Niacin) is a weak radiosensitizer at large doses. Finally hyperthermia and increase atmospheric O2 also increase radiosensitivity. The common pathway they are theorized to work though is increasing reactive oxygen species. More reactive oxygen species, the more DNA damage, which leads to cell kill.

nashequilibrium 5y ago

Im just curious, why is a Radiation oncologist on HN?

robbiep 5y ago
Not op but rad oncs are a weird bunch. They get to play with cool machines and imaging and there is a natural overlap with coding and software. There are a number of medical fields like this. So I’m guessing somewhere along those lines (which is a bit like me, but my applications are less clinical!)
sniperjoe360 5y ago
I felt the same way, what's an article about radiation oncology doing here on HN? :) Ditto to the comment below. Former coder turned doctor. Radiation Oncology was a quasi natural choice (radiology and emergency medicine are also very tech heavy fields!) Still interested in coding.

panabee 5y ago

What makes for a good radiosensitizer? It seems gold is pretty popular at the moment as well, so curious what properties in particular are amenable to rendering a substance a good radiosensitizer? Thanks for sharing!

sniperjoe360 5y ago
The only FDA approved radiosensitizers are chemotherapy based (i.e. platinum, taxol). Vitamin B3 (Niacin) is a weak radiosensitizer at large doses. Finally hyperthermia and increase atmospheric O2 also increase radiosensitivity. The common pathway they are theorized to work though is increasing reactive oxygen species. More reactive oxygen species, the more DNA damage, which leads to cell kill.