HEALTH REPORT - Studies Shows Chemotherapy Improves Lung Can

HEALTH REPORT - Studies Shows Chemotherapy Improves Lung Cancer Survival¹
By Cynthia Kirk

Broadcast: Wednesday, July 13, 2005

I'm Faith Lapidus with the VOA Special English Health Report.

 
An x-ray image showing lung cancer.
Lung cancer is the most common cancer and the leading cause of cancer deaths around the world. There are more than one million new cases of lung cancer each year. And more than one million people die of lung cancer around the world every year. Smoking tobacco is the main cause of all lung cancer deaths.

When cancer is discovered in its early stages, traditional treatment includes removing the cancerous tumor². Patients with colon³, breast and ovarian cancer also usually take chemotherapy drugs to improve their chances for survival.

But earlier studies had shown that chemotherapy drugs did little to improve survival rates for lung cancer patients. And the drugs often have side effects, such as nausea⁴, extreme tiredness and diarrhea.

Now, the results of three studies show that chemotherapy helped improve five-year survival rates in people with early-stage lung cancer. Doctor Timothy Winton of the University of Alberta in Canada led one of the studies The study began in nineteen ninety-four.

The ten-year study involved more than four hundred eighty patients with early stage lung cancer. The patients lived in Canada and the United States. Those governments paid for the study, along with the drug company GlaxoSmithKline.

All of the patients had their lung cancer tumors removed. After their operations, some of the patients were given two chemotherapy drugs. They took the drugs once a week for sixteen weeks. The others were not given chemotherapy.

In patients who did not have chemotherapy, fifty-four percent survived for five years. But sixty-nine percent of the patients who had chemotherapy were still alive after five years. The study was published in June in the New England Journal⁵ of Medicine. Two other studies had similar findings⁶.

Doctor Winton said chemotherapy drugs have improved over the years. He also said there are now better treatments for the side effects.

Doctors say the studies have already begun to change care for patients in the early stages of lung cancer. Experts are now advising doctors that chemotherapy should be given after surgery⁷ for some patients with early-stage lung cancer.

This VOA Special English Health Report was written by Cynthia Kirk. Our features are online at specialenglish.com. I'm Faith Lapidus.

1 survival   

n.留住生命，生存，残存，幸存者

参考例句：

• The doctor told my wife I had a fifty-fifty chance of survival.医生告诉我的妻子，说我活下去的可能性只有50%。
• The old man was a survival of a past age.这位老人是上一代的遗老。

2 tumor   

n.（肿）瘤，肿块(英)tumour

参考例句：

• He was died of a malignant tumor.他死于恶性肿瘤。
• The surgeons irradiated the tumor.外科医生用X射线照射那个肿瘤。

3 colon   

n.冒号，结肠，直肠

参考例句：

• Here,too,the colon must be followed by a dash.这里也是一样，应当在冒号后加破折号。
• The colon is the locus of a large concentration of bacteria.结肠是大浓度的细菌所在地。

4 nausea   

n.作呕，恶心；极端的憎恶(或厌恶)

参考例句：

• Early pregnancy is often accompanied by nausea.怀孕期常有恶心的现象。
• He experienced nausea after eating octopus.吃了章鱼后他感到恶心。

5 journal   

n.日志，日记；议事录；日记帐；杂志，定期刊物

参考例句：

• He kept a journal during his visit to Japan.他在访问日本期间坚持记日记。
• He got a job as editor of a trade journal.他找到了一份当商业杂志编辑的工作。

6 findings   

n.发现物( finding的名词复数 )；调查（或研究）的结果；（陪审团的）裁决

参考例句：

• It behoves us to study these findings carefully. 我们理应认真研究这些发现。
• Their findings have been widely disseminated . 他们的研究成果已经广为传播。

7 surgery   

n.外科，外科手术；手术室

参考例句：

• What time does surgery finish?门诊什么时间结束？
• Your condition is serious and requires surgery.你的情况很严重，需要动外科手术。