BCRB 2018

19/09/2018

Treatment-related toxicity

• Underreported, vague symptoms …  result in greater morbidity that is costly to patients and the health system

• Different scoring systems used • Prospective vs retrospective data • Patient vs physician • Affects QoL • Requires appropriate treatment • Many patients have become long-term survivors

How to measure normal tissue response?

• Scoring of gross tissue effects • Scoring systems: grade the severity of tissue damage using an arbitrary scale • Assays of tissue function • Functional assays to measure radiation effects • E.g. blood counts as an indicator of bone marrow function • Clonogenic assays • Methods by which a colony of cells that derives from a single irradiated cell can be observed

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