Blood cancer is one of the most common categories of cancer, accounting for up to ten per cent of cancer diagnoses. Among the most familiar forms are leukaemia, lymphoma and myeloma.

These can come in different sub-categories:

Leukaemia types include acute myeloid leukaemia. This impacts the myeloid cells and causes a loss of white blood cell production, which undermines the immune system.

Lymphomas include Hodgkin and Non-Hodgkin types, the latter being significantly more aggressive.

Because these are prominent kinds of cancer, much research and development work has taken place into discovering, enhancing and refining treatments for them, which includes radiotherapy treatment. This means many medical resources can be deployed to tackle blood cancer.

Advances In Blood Cancer Treatment

The progress that has been made in producing better outcomes is highlighted in the UK each September, which is Blood Cancer Awareness Month. Organised by the charity Blood Cancer UK, it aims to raise awareness of these conditions, arguing that they receive less attention and research funding than other forms of cancer.

However, it also has a good news story to tell, with studies showing that myeloma survival rates have approximately doubled in recent years. Such improvements do not just help patients in Britain, but all around the world.

Blood cancer treatments are now more numerous and effective than they used to be and include some therapies that did not even exist a few years ago.

Part of the reason there is a wide array of treatments is that the different cancers will each have their own elements that can be impacted more effectively by specific treatments. Chemotherapy is widely used and immunotherapy drugs are increasingly deployed.

Radiotherapy For Blood Cancer

Even so, radiotherapy still has a significant role to play. Indeed, this has also become more advanced to the benefit of patients. It can be targeted more precisely than ever when this approach (known as stereotactic radiotherapy) is required.

Lymphoma and multiple myeloma cancers are among those that are commonly targeted using radiotherapy. This is because they originate in blood-forming tissues, either in bone marrow or immune cells.

Radiotherapy can have multiple beneficial effects. Firstly, similar to how it works with other conditions, it destroys cancer cells in the bloodstream.

Secondly, it can have a therapeutic benefit by easing some of the symptoms of the cancer. This includes reducing the pain of swelling from an enlarged liver, spleen or lymph nodes and reducing the bone marrow pain caused by the damage done to it by cancerous cells.

When Stereotactic Radiotherapy May Be Used

Stereotactic radiotherapy, which uses very precise beams of radiation to deliver high doses of radiation to specific areas while minimising exposure for sensitive adjacent organs and tissue, can be extremely effective and invaluable in treating many cancers that exist close to vital organs. Stereotactic radiotherapy is selectively used for blood cancer.

Examples of this include blood cancer affecting the chest and abdomen, or in the neck and head in the case of Hodgkin Lymphoma.

Our cancer treatment services include the capacity to deliver stereotactic radiotherapy using some of the most advanced equipment, aided by the most accurate scanning technology available.

Whole Body Radiotherapy

However, radiation therapy can also be given in other ways. In some cases, whole body radiotherapy is given. This is commonly used for leukaemia patients before stem cell transplants. Lymphoma and myeloma patients may also receive this treatment.

Here, you would lie prone on a table while the radiation is delivered by a Linac machine. This can move around the patient and be used to direct radiation wherever it is required.

In cases of location-specific cancer, meanwhile, radiation will be targeted at certain areas.

The Side Effects Of Radiotherapy For Blood Cancer

As with radiotherapy for any form of cancer, there will likely be some side effects. These can include fatigue, hair loss, a reduction in appetite, diminished libido, skin changes (including dryness and soreness) and, on occasion, diarrhoea and stomach upsets. If you are undergoing chemotherapy as well, this will also produce some side effects.

However, it is important to remember that the side effects of radiotherapy, while unpleasant, are not permanent in most instances. For example, after treatment ends, you will find your appetite returns and if you have lost your hair, it will start to grow back.

If you have any of the common blood cancers, or even a rarer type, you may feel unhappy with the treatment given so far. Using the best technology and the most advanced treatments and techniques, our private radiotherapy centres may offer a better approach.

We specialise in radiotherapy, but offer chemotherapy as well, which may be particularly effective for your condition when the two approaches are used in combination.

Learn more about our advanced radiotherapy for different blood cancers on the Amethyst Group website.

Cancers come in many different forms, but one thing they all have in common is that early diagnosis can make a significant difference to outcomes and treatments.

The sooner a cancer is spotted, the less it will have progressed and a particular benefit for the patient can be when a cancer can be treated before it can go through metastasis, the process in which it starts to become secondary cancer by spreading from its original site to other parts of the body.

However, even with early detection, you may need significant treatment. This can include private chemotherapy treatment as part of the treatment process.

New Test Raises Hopes For Early Ovarian Cancer Detection

The prospects of more cases of ovarian cancer being detected early appear to have taken a giant leap forward following new research carried out in the UK and the US.

Scientists at the Universities of Manchester and Colorado have found that a new test can detect biomarkers for ovarian cancer with more accuracy than existing tests.

In Colorado, the tests showed a 93 per cent accuracy for all stage detection and 91 per cent for early-stage cancer. In Manchester, the respective figures were 92 per cent and 88 per cent.

The test was developed by diagnostics company AOA Dx. Reflecting on the results, the company’s chief science officer, Abigail McElhinny, said: “This platform offers a great opportunity to improve the early diagnosis of ovarian cancer potentially resulting in better patient outcomes and lower costs to the healthcare system.”

At present, 90 per cent of women with ovarian cancer have symptoms when the cancer is in stage 1, but only 20 per cent of cases are detected that early.

If you have been diagnosed, it may very well be that the disease has progressed beyond stage 1, which is when the cancer is confined to an ovary or fallopian tube. At stage 2a, it spreads to the uterus and, in stage 2b, can be found in other locations in the pelvic region.

Only at stage 3 does it spread to the lymph nodes, at which point the cancer can reach other parts of the body away from the pelvic region.

The Role Of Chemotherapy In Ovarian Cancer Treatment

Whatever stage you are at after diagnosis, chemotherapy may play a significant role in treatment. This is most commonly used before or after surgery to remove the ovaries.

There are different ways in which this may be administered. Chemotherapy drugs can be given in pill form or administered via a drip, depending on which drug is used and what stage the cancer is at. The drugs are toxic to the cancer cells and can target them effectively.

Understanding how chemotherapy works is important for any cancer patient, but it may be especially true for cancers like ovarian cancer, which is seldom treated with radiotherapy. This is in contrast with some cancers where radiotherapy and chemotherapy are sometimes used in combination.

How Chemotherapy Drugs Work

The main way in which the drugs work is by damaging the capacity of the cancer cells to multiply. Like other cells, they do this by dividing, and different chemotherapy medications will impede this process in various ways.

Some attack the nucleus, where the control centre that launches the process of division is housed. Other drugs might disrupt the chemical processes in division, damage the cells as they divide to stop them from making accurate copies of their DNA (which stops further replication), or damage cells at the point of division.

Because there are these four different ways in which chemotherapy can attack cancer cells, there are multiple options for tackling cancer. That might include using one particular kind of drug to target it in a specific way, or a cocktail of different drugs to launch a multi-front assault on the cells.

In the best-case scenarios, these will remove any remaining cancerous cells after surgery, enabling the patient to go into remission.

Tailoring Treatment To Individuals

Our approach to private chemotherapy treatment is to treat everyone as an individual. This means each patient’s needs are assessed to deliver precisely the right treatment. This is designed to ensure the right drug is given, in the correct dosage and that the treatment is continued for the correct length of time, with adjustments when required.

This will also involve helping you to understand factors such as the side effects of chemotherapy and how you and your loved ones can cope with them. These can include gastrointestinal upsets, nausea and vomiting, fatigue, anaemia and a weakened immune system.

It is central to our approach that you not only get the best treatment, but are kept informed all the way, with full explanations of the treatment, its effects and side-effects. In doing all this, we will provide you with the best care possible.

Learn more about our advanced chemotherapy treatments for different cancers on the Amethyst Group website.

A key feature of our treatment programmes at Amethyst Healthcare is to offer personalised care that is tailored to the needs of each patient. In rejecting a one-size-fits-all approach, we aim to achieve better patient outcomes and to acknowledge that everyone is different.

This is something that may be particularly appreciated by those who have found that other providers have fallen short in this regard. Not only does that mean that the treatment offered may not be the best option, but it can also mean individuals are being given a treatment based not on what might be best for them, but on presuppositions about what is best.

A good example of where this can occur with highly negative results is the area of prostate cancer. The diagnosis of this disease is not in itself a prognosis of how it will develop, as tumours vary widely in how aggressive they are. This alone is a good reason to personalise treatments according to individual patient circumstances.

Prostate Cancer Treatment Concerns Raised

However, this is not what always transpires. For example, the charity Prostate Cancer UK has warned that in Britain, as many as 5,000 men a year are given excessive treatment for their condition. This can mean they unnecessarily suffer side effects like erectile dysfunction or incontinence.

The charity held the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), a state-run body that issues treatment guidelines, to account for providing obsolete guidance.

Its key point is that for a quarter of patients, the tumour grows so slowly that it is not going to manifest itself harmfully in their lifetimes, making the treatment they may be given unnecessary.

Instead, such patients may benefit from close monitoring, with further treatment only required if the cancer growth accelerates.

This may also be the case for other similar guidelines in healthcare systems around the world, as well as in the UK.

Speaking to the Independent newspaper, professor of urology at the University of Cambridge Vincent Gnanapragasam said the NICE guidelines “have created a deeply concerning wild west on how surveillance is implemented by different health care teams.”

He added: “This inconsistency is resulting in a lack of confidence from patients in surveillance, who may instead opt to have treatment they may not have ever needed, risking harmful side effects.”

The Search For Personalised Prostate Care

The issues raised with NICE affect Britons using the state-run National Health Service, but many prostate cancer patients from other countries might find they have similar problems with treatments being implemented that are not ideal for their individual conditions. This may be applicable both in state and private healthcare systems across Europe.

Wherever you are located, you can do better than this. Radiotherapy should only be given when required because of its various side effects.

For cases where you do need radiotherapy, we can still offer treatment that is geared up to individual needs, as there are differing ways of using radiotherapy for prostate cancer, as well as multiple options for combining it with other treatments, such as surgery and chemotherapy.

Radiotherapy Options

Radiotherapy for prostate cancer can be external or internal. The first of these involves external beam therapy, which is commonly used when the cancer is confined to the prostate itself.

This can involve the use of stereotactic radiotherapy to direct very precise beams of strong radiation at the tumour, shrinking it while minimising radiation exposure for surrounding healthy tissue.

Internal radiation therapy, known as brachytherapy, involves placing a very small implant of radioactive material in the prostate. In some cases, this is temporary and in others permanent, depending on patient needs.

Like external beam radiotherapy, brachytherapy is used when the cancer is confined to the prostate gland. Metastatic prostate cancer, defined as when the cancer has spread to other parts of the body, may be treated by radiopharmaceutical means. This usually only occurs as a treatment for stage 4 cancer.

Taking an Individual Approach

These variations, combined with the different surgical, chemotherapy, targeted therapy and immunotherapy options (among others) go to highlight that there are many ways to treat prostate cancer and it makes little sense to make presumptions of what is best for each patient without considering their circumstances.

Among the variations are factors such as age and general health, while some people will respond better to some treatments (such as chemotherapy) than others. Hormonal therapy can help in some cases but not others.

All of these factors will play a role in the prostate cancer treatment we can offer you at Amethyst Radiotherapy. But we will also treat you as an individual person, discussing your treatment options, explaining the benefits and side effects, and helping you to feel a part of the decision-making process.

In doing so, you should get the best care available, which can improve your prospects for a better outcome.

Learn more about our advanced radiotherapy treatments for different cancers on the Amethyst Group website.

Stereotactic radiotherapy is one of the most advanced forms of radiotherapy. It is designed to achieve the delivery of very concentrated and precise beams of radiation to tumours while minimising the irradiation of any surrounding tissue, which makes it invaluable when tackling tumours and cancerous cells in or adjacent to the brain.

If you are seeking private radiotherapy, your primary aim should be to get the best possible treatment, perhaps something not available via your country’s state health system, using the most advanced and appropriate form of radiotherapy.

What Is Stereotactic Radiotherapy?

Not every form of cancer needs stereotactic radiotherapy, but brain metastases certainly do. Metastatic cancer is a form of cancer in which the disease has spread from its original site to other parts of the body. That could mean brain cancer spreading to other parts of the brain or elsewhere in the body, or another kind of cancer spreading to the brain.

In either case, this is among the most serious forms of cancer anyone can suffer from and significant intervention will be required. The two principal means of treating brain cancer are through surgery to remove part or all of a tumour and stereotactic radiotherapy to shrink it.

Surgery vs. Radiosurgery: A New Approach & Key Findings 

These are commonly used in combination in the course of treatment, which means studies to find ways of delivering this combination in ever more effective ways are a very active area of research around the globe.

In a particularly notable development revealed this month, research in the US has indicated that a new method of combining stereotactic radiosurgery (SRT) with surgery is not only safe, but displays enhanced outcomes compared to the alternative approach.

The randomised clinical trial by the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group, published in the Journal of American Medical Association, set out to establish the safety and effectiveness of using SRT on patients before operations to remove resectable brain metastases (cancerous cells that can be removed surgically), with the purpose being to compare outcomes with the alternative of carrying out SRT after surgery.

What the study concluded was that the pre-operative SRT was just as safe for patients as post-operative treatment. In addition, the pre-operative treatment produced two positive benefits, with more treatments being completed and the time taken to finish treatment being reduced.

Among those in the cohort who had pre-operative SRT, 88 per cent completed both stages of treatment, compared to only 73 per cent in the post-operative SRT patients, while the median gap between the two treatments was only six days for the pre-operative SRT group, compared with 22 for the other group.

Implications for Private Cancer Treatment

As with any study of this type, it will require peer review and further research will be needed to corroborate the findings. However, if it is confirmed that pre-operative SRT is the better option for patients with resectable metastases, it may become the standard procedure.

This kind of cutting-edge research is meaningful because the technology to carry out such work is now so advanced. SRT has been developed with increasing precision over the years, with tools like the Gamma Knife, first pioneered by Swedish scientist Lars Leksell in the 1960s, being enhanced with a second version in 1975 and further improved since.

Managing Side Effects of SRT

Both SRT and surgery will require significant recovery time and will come with a range of side effects. In the case of any radiotherapy treatment, common symptoms may include hair loss, nausea, vomiting, stomach troubles and loss of appetite, tiredness, skin problems and loss of libido.

It is worth noting, however, that not all of these symptoms will occur and some kinds of radiotherapy can produce certain side-effects more than others.

For example, blood-related issues caused by a reduction in blood cell production are commonly caused by external beam radiotherapy and internal isotope radiotherapy, because these impact the bone marrow where blood cells are produced. This is not, therefore, a common symptom of SRT.

What To Expect From Amethyst

The purpose of the study in the US was to find the best way to combine radiotherapy and surgery. In your own case, the brain cancer may not be metastatic, but the best treatment may still involve both SRT and surgery.

Where this is not the case, it will be because the cancer exists in the form of a tumour in a part of the brain that cannot be safely accessed in physical surgery. In this instance, SRT will have an even more important role to play.

What you can be sure of is that the treatment we offer will use the very best methods and knowledge at our disposal.

Learn more about our advanced radiotherapy treatments for brain cancer on the Amethyst Group website.

The first treatment for cancer that comes to mind to people who are not necessarily familiar with oncology is chemotherapy, and private chemotherapy treatment is not only highly effective but also focuses on ensuring a high quality of life before, during and after the course is complete.

There are a lot of different types of chemotherapy, but they work by using particular treatment agents to inhibit the growth or damage the DNA of cancerous cells, which is taken in cycles to break down and kill a cancerous tumour.

It can be undertaken on its own or in combination with radiotherapy to enhance its effect, radiosurgery or conventional surgery to kill any existing cancer cells following the destruction or excision of the tumour.

There are countless chemotherapy treatments and the right one for you will depend in large part on the type of cancer you have, its current progression, your overall health and your personal wishes when it comes to how you want to be treated. We are there every step of the way.

It is the newest of the three most established treatment pathways for cancer, with surgery and radiotherapy respectively being technically older but having changed significantly in the century since they were first used.

Chemotherapy was the result of an accidental discovery of a beneficial side effect of a chemical agent designed to cause harm.

The Development Of Chlormethine

The beginning of chemotherapy begins with the ancestor of chlormethine, a specialist drug that is either injected or used topically to treat certain types of skin cancers such as lymphoma, polycythaemia vera and some types of lung cancer.

Chlormethine, sometimes known as Mustargen, was originally derived from a much more harmful compound designed not to treat cancer but to cause harm: mustard gas.

Initially discovered in the 1860s by Frederick Guthrie, it was manufactured by Franz Haber and used in the First World War as one of the first modern chemical weapons ever deployed.

Whilst the harm mustard gas caused was immeasurable, and it was first banned in 1925 for that reason, there was also a rather interesting side effect found that it could also kill cancer cells in the lymph nodes in studies on its physiological effects.

The phenomenon was first discovered in 1919 by Dr Edward Krumbhaar, but it was not until the 1940s that these findings were fully applied to the treatment of cancer.

Early studies in mice, later confirmed in rabbits with lymphoma, confirmed its potential therapeutic properties once the sulphur used to make mustard gas was replaced with the less volatile nitrogen to create nitrogen mustard, which would become chlormethine.

Patient JD

The first human patient to ever be treated with chemotherapy was a man known as JD, living in Connecticut having been born in Poland.

Born in 1894, he emigrated to the United States and worked in a factory that manufactured ball bearings until he became ill in 1940 with non-Hodgkin lymphoma, then described as lymphosarcoma.

It was particularly aggressive, causing swelling throughout the right side of his neck, requiring 16 consecutive days of external beam radiotherapy using X-rays in 1941, before undergoing surgery to remove some of the tumours.

By 1942, the case had seemingly become terminal; the tumours were unresponsive to treatment, and the placement of the tumours made it particularly difficult to treat.

Out of options, JD’s doctors allowed for the use of chlormethine, known as “substance X” to ensure secrecy. This was the first use of chemotherapy to treat cancer, and the results were rather astonishing.

An unresponsive cancer had drastically reduced after five days, and despite struggling to breathe before the treatment, he found it easy to move his head and eat comfortably without difficulty. It had not only saved his life but given him his life back.

Unfortunately, whilst it was the right treatment, it was ultimately too late, and JD passed away 96 days following his first dose of treatment due to a relapse in the cancer at the age of 48.

A Legacy Of Lifesaving Care

JD’s story mirrors that of the unnamed 52-year-old patient of Victor Despeignes who in 1896 was the first person with cancer to be treated using X-rays. Once again, the treatment was remarkably effective but arrived too late to help.

Their bravery and willingness to try a treatment that was experimental at the time have contributed to the saving of millions of lives by proving the effectiveness of both treatments.

It led to the development of other chemotherapy medications, and within the decade following the Second World War, chemotherapy became an established treatment practice. By 1965 and the development of combination chemotherapy, cancer care was transformed forever.

Get in touch

Our team will guide you throughout every stage of your private chemotherapy treatment and ensure you’re comfortable during each visit. Contact us for more information.