̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge - oncology

Cambridge Festival Speaker Spotlight: Dr Mireia Crispin

zs332 — Wed, 12 Feb 2025 14:03:02 +0000

Dr Mireia Crispin is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Oncology at the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge and leads a research group focusing on the development of multi-omic data integration models to understand how tumours evolve and respond to treatment.

Awareness could eliminate inequalities in cancer diagnoses

gm349 — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 15:13:33 +0000

There are substantial inequalities in the stage at which cancer patients receive their diagnosis – a critical factor for cancer survival – a new study by the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge reveals. ̽��ֱ��researchers found that age, sex and income as well as the type of cancer influenced the risk of a patient being diagnosed at an advanced stage of the disease. Eliminating these inequalities would help improve the chances of a cure for up to 5,600 patients with seven common cancers each year. ̽��ֱ��research was published today in the Annals of Oncology.

̽��ֱ��scientists studied ten common types of cancer responsible for two-thirds of all new cancer diagnoses in England. They found that 5,600 patients with seven common cancers each year are diagnosed at a late stage of their illness because of inequalities.

Narrowing social differences in stage at diagnosis could benefit 2000 men with prostate cancer, 1300 patients with lung cancer, 1000 women with breast cancer and 700 patients with melanoma, who are currently diagnosed in advanced stage because of inequalities. There are also important potential gains for patients with three rarer cancers (endometrial, kidney and bladder cancer). During the study period, 2006-2010, there were no notable social inequalities in the risk of advanced stage at diagnosis for patients with bowel (colon or rectal) cancer and women with ovarian cancer.

̽��ֱ��research shows that 1 out of every 9 patients with these seven cancers who are currently diagnosed in advanced stage could be diagnosed at an earlier stage. Most of the improvements seem to be achievable by better educating people about symptoms and signs of potential cancer that should prompt a consultation with a doctor.

“We know that earlier stage diagnosis of cancer is important – it dramatically improves the effectiveness of treatment and survival for many cancers,” said lead author Dr Georgios Lyratzopoulos, a researcher of the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge. “This study highlights the importance of awareness of cancer symptoms and how people of different social groups react to such symptoms. It provides evidence about which patient groups would benefit most from targeted campaigns to raise awareness of different cancers.”

For the study, Cambridge researchers worked together with the NHS to examine data from the Eastern Cancer Registration and Information Centre (ECRIC), the English regional cancer registry with the most complete information on stage at diagnosis. (Statistics about the stage of diagnosis of common cancers has been difficult to come by in the past, but their availability is currently increasing across the UK.)

̽��ֱ��investigators examined information on the stage at diagnosis of nearly 100,000 patients with any of ten different cancers, including the five most common cancers (lung, breast, prostate, colon and rectal cancer) and also bladder, kidney, ovarian, and endometrial cancer and melanoma (the most aggressive type of skin cancer). ̽��ֱ��analysis took account of different tumour sub-types and whether the cancer was detected through screening.

̽��ֱ��potential for improving diagnosis was not the same across all cancers. Men with melanoma and lung cancer were more likely to be diagnosed at an advanced stage compared with women with the same cancer. Patients with breast, prostate and endometrial cancer and melanoma living in poorer neighbourhoods were more likely to be diagnosed at late stage compared with those living in less deprived neighbourhoods.

̽��ֱ��researchers focused on examining variation in diagnosis by age among patients aged 65 or older, because 2/3 of all cancers occur in this age group and because of evidence of potential deficits in the care of older patients. They found that for four cancers (breast, prostate, melanoma and endometrial) older patients were more likely to be diagnosed at an advanced stage. However, for three other cancers (lung, bladder and renal cancer) the opposite was true, with older patients being less likely to be diagnosed at an advanced stage.

“For cancers where there is evidence that symptom awareness matters, such as breast, prostate, melanoma and endometrial cancer, older individuals are more likely to have their cancer discovered late. In contrast, for cancers which there is a good enough medical test, such as X-ray or ultrasound, it seems that being old can protect somewhat from late stage diagnosis – presumably because the frequency of having these tests increases with older age and infirmity,” said Dr Lyratzopoulos.

Policy experts believe that deficiencies in both early diagnosis and optimal treatment may be responsible for poorer cancer survival in the UK compared with some other European countries with similar health care systems and robust statistics (e.g. Scandinavian countries). Regarding deficiencies in early diagnosis, delays in patients recognising symptoms and presenting to their doctors as well as delays by the health system could be responsible. ̽��ֱ��study highlights that differences in perceptions of cancer between patients may be more important than previously thought for at least some (although not all) types of cancer.

“Awareness campaigns about the symptoms of bowel and ovarian cancer have been launched relatively recently and future research should establish their effectiveness. Avoiding a patchy dissemination of awareness messages among different social groups is important to prevent future inequalities in early diagnosis and for such campaigns to have the maximum impact,” said senior author Dr David Greenberg from ECRIC (the Eastern Cancer Registration and Information Centre).

̽��ֱ��study was supported by the National Institute for Health Research and ECRIC.

Each year 5,600 patients are diagnosed with cancer at a late stage because of inequalities. Study underlines importance of awareness campaigns.

We know that earlier stage diagnosis of cancer is important – it dramatically improves the effectiveness of treatment and survival for many cancers.

lead author Dr Georgios Lyratzopoulos

flickr from GE Healthcare

Cancer

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Licence. If you use this content on your site please link back to this page.

Yes

Project to improve radiotherapy planning

amb206 — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 09:54:10 +0000

Radiation therapy (radiotherapy) is an essential part of cancer treatment and is used in the treatment of 40 per cent of all patients who are cured of their disease. All radiotherapy treatments work by the application of ionising radiation to malignant cells in tumours. ̽��ֱ��free radicals released by this process damage the DNA of the exposed tissue, killing off the cancerous cells. By targeting the radiation to the tumour, the damage to surrounding healthy tissue is minimised.

Modern radiotherapy machines can now deliver highly targeted radiotherapy treatment. However, the use of high precision radiotherapy techniques is extremely demanding in terms of hours spent, from the physician who defines the tumour target and healthy tissues, to the physicist who has to calculate a plan of optimum beam angles and trajectories for the treatment, and the radiographer, who must ensure that the treatment is delivered accurately to the target every day during a six or seven week course of radiotherapy.

Accel-RT is an innovative partnership between oncologists, physicists and computer scientists at the Universities of Cambridge and Oxford. Over the next three years the collaborators will develop software tools and processes that will speed up the process of planning of radiotherapy. Once completed, free software tools will be available to radiotherapy treatment centres. These tools will increase patient access to high precision radiotherapy by reducing the bottle-necks in the clinical workflow. ̽��ֱ��system will operate as a 'virtual oncologist', observing what the oncologist is treating and using novel search algorithms to recall similar cases from a clinical archive. Models of tissue structures will be used to help outline normal tissue automatically, as well as to track the movement of these structures during the course of radiotherapy treatment.

Accel-RT is being funded by the Science and Technologies Facilities Council (STFC), through its Innovations Partnership Scheme, and will benefit from the support of Siemens Healthcare, a leading supplier of imaging technology and radiotherapy treatment devices throughout the world.

̽��ֱ��key players in the project are established leaders in their fields. At the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge, Dr Neil Burnet has been an 'early adopter' of novel radiotherapy technologies at Addenbrooke's, from the commissioning of the first in-house 3D computerised treatment planning system, through to the evaluation of the TomoTherapy image guided intensity modulated radiotherapy system conducted for the Department of Health. At Oxford ̽��ֱ��, Professor Jim Davies and his team from the Department of Computer Science have experience in the handling of 'smart' data systems - using metadata elements to allow data to be searched and processed in more intuitive ways.

Professor Andy Parker and his team at the High Energy Physics group in Cambridge have extensive experience in the storage and handling of large quantities of image data, and the use of grid computing techniques to accelerate this process. "In essence, Accel-RT is helping to identify tumours and surrounding organs during the planning and delivery of radiotherapy treatment. Tracking the change in position and volume of these structures is a complex problem. To perform these calculations in real time for a single patient would require up to 16 Teraflops of processing power – approximately 100 times the power of a standard PC workstation,” said Professor Parker, who is Professor of High Energy Physics at the Cavendish Laboratory and Principal Investigator for Accel-RT.

For more details about the project, and to register for project news emails, go to www.accelrt.org.

A collaborative project between physicists, oncologists and computer scientists at Oxford and Cambridge Universities, launched last month, will develop improved tools for the planning of high precision radiotherapy. Accel-RT will also help overcome time constraints that currently limit the use of complex radiotherapy treatment.

̽��ֱ��system will operate as a 'virtual oncologist', observing what the oncologist is treating and using novel search algorithms to recall similar cases from a clinical archive.

Andy Parker

Neil Burnet

Image-guided intensity modulated RT plan for a patient with a spinal tumour. ̽��ֱ��radiation dose is shaped away from the kidneys (yellow outlines) and the spinal nerve roots (inside the green outline). ̽��ֱ��colour wash represents radiation dose

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Licence. If you use this content on your site please link back to this page.

Yes