摘要：
澳大利亚研究人员1月23日表示，医生们为减轻无法治愈的肺癌患者的不适症状而实施的低剂量放射疗法，实际上可能会起到更好的效果。研究显示，这种治疗方法可以挽救少数肺癌患者的生命。
Small doses of radiation meant to ease the symptoms of incurable lung cancer may actually save the lives of a few patients, surprised Australian researchers reported on Monday.

澳大利亚研究人员1月23日表示，医生们为减轻无法治愈的肺癌患者的不适症状而实施的低剂量放射疗法，实际上可能会起到更好的效果。研究显示，这种治疗方法可以挽救少数肺癌患者的生命。

据路透社1月23日报道，研究人员表示，在非小细胞肺癌患者当中，大约有百分之一的人在接受放射治疗后，能幸存5年或者更长的时间。

澳大利亚墨尔本彼得·麦卡勒姆癌症研究中心的放射肿瘤学家迈克尔·麦克·曼纳斯博士和其同事，对2337名肺癌患者进行了跟踪研究。这些肺癌患者都接受了小剂量的放射治疗。

研究人员发现，接受治疗后，2337名患者当中有1.1％的人幸存了5年或更长的时间，他们的病情被认为有所好转，其中还包括18名痊愈的患者。研究人员表示："我们的数据显示，有大约1％的非小细胞肺癌患者在接受小剂量的放射疗法后，其幸存期都有所延长。而人们通常认为，这种疗法对疾病的长期控制并不起什么作用。"

报道说，非小细胞肺癌是一种最为常见的肺癌，在肺癌总病例中，非小细胞肺癌约占80％。非小细胞肺癌患者的平均5年幸存率仅为40％，而那些晚期患者的5年幸存率只有大约15％。医生们通常会给那些病情发展到晚期、无法治愈的非小细胞肺癌患者实施包括放射疗法在内的治疗，以减轻癌症带来的疼痛和不适。

报道说，有关这项研究的具体结果将被刊登在新出版的美国《癌症》杂志上。

（国际在线独家资讯 王高山）

本稿件为国际在线专稿，媒体转载请注明稿件来源和译者姓名。

Small doses of radiation meant to ease the symptoms of incurable lung cancer may actually save the lives of a few patients, surprised Australian researchers reported on Monday.

About one in a hundred patients with apparentlyincurable non-small cell lung cancer survived five or more years after the treatments, and 18 patients were apparently cured, the researchers said.

Dr. Michael Mac Manus, a radiation oncologist at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Center in Melbourne, Australia, and colleagues followed 2,337 apparentlyincurable lung cancer patients who had received palliative doses of radiation.

Writing in the journal Cancer, they said 1.1 percent of the 2,337 patients lived five or more years after treatment -- considered remission.

"Our data show that close to 1 percent of patients with NSCLC have prolonged survival with doses of palliative radiation therapy that would not normally be considered sufficient for long-term disease control," they wrote.

NSCLC, the most common type of lung cancer, has an average five-year survival rate of only 40 percent. The five-year survival rate in advanced disease is only about 15 percent.

Patients diagnosed with NSCLC that is too advanced to be cured can be given palliative therapies to ease pain and discomfort, including radiation.

Lung cancer is by far the biggest cancer killer globally. Each year ten million people are diagnosed with lung cancer, according to the Global Lung Cancer Coalition, and half of all patients die within a year of diagnosis.

关键字:双语新闻
生词表: