ASTRO

Recently, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a final national coverage determination, effective immediately, that provides for Medicare coverage of screening for lung cancer with low dose computed tomography (LDCT). This screening gives at-risk seniors unprecedented access to care.  

Three American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) staff members have been promoted to new positions: Emily Wilson has been named executive vice president; Dave Adler promoted to vice president of advocacy; and Anne Hubbard promoted to director of health policy, as announced by ASTRO’s board of directors and effective immediately.

A new study on the use of hypofractionated whole-breast irradiation (HF-WBI) for early-stage breast cancer patients found HF-WBI increased 17.4 percent from 2004 to 2011. Patients are also more likely to receive HF-WBI compared to conventionally fractionated whole-breast irradiation (CF-WBI) when they are treated at an academic center or live ?50 miles away from a cancer center. The study was published in the Dec. 1, 2014, issue of the International Journal of Radiation Oncology • Biology • Physics (Red Journal), the official scientific journal of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO).

The American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) is supporting the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' (CMS) decision to provide coverage for annual lung cancer screening via a low-dose CT screening for those at the highest-risk for lung cancer.  

September 16, 2014 — A large, international analysis of patients with stage IV non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) indicates that a patient’s overall survival (OS) rate can be related to factors including the timing of when metastases develop and lymph node involvement, and that aggressive treatment for “low-risk” patients leads to a five-year OS rate of 47.8 percent. The research was presented today at the 56^th annual meeting of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO).