第2222期:Researchers Study Gentler Cancer Treatments

Reduced treatment for three kinds of cancer can make life easier for patients without hurting results, doctors reported recently at the world’s largest cancer conference.减少三种癌症的治疗可以让患者的生活更轻松，而不影响治疗效果，医生们最近在世界上最大的癌症会议上报告。The findings are part of a long-term move toward studying whether doing less surgery, chemotherapy, or radiation can help patients live longer and feel better. The latest studies involved ovarian and esophageal cancer and Hodgkin lymphoma.这些发现是长期研究的一部分，研究是否减少手术、化疗或放疗可以帮助患者活得更久，感觉更好。最新的研究涉及卵巢癌、食道癌和霍奇金淋巴瘤。Thirty years ago, cancer research was about doing more, not less. In one example, women with advanced breast cancer were pushed to the edge of death with large doses of chemotherapy and bone marrow transplants. The treatment did not work any better than chemotherapy and patients suffered.三十年前，癌症研究注重的是多做而不是少做。举一个例子，患有晚期乳腺癌的女性被大剂量的化疗和骨髓移植推到了死亡的边缘。结果这种治疗效果并不比单纯化疗好，患者也承受了更多痛苦。Now, in an effort to improve cancer care, researchers are asking: “Do we need all that treatment that we have used in the past?”现在，为了改善癌症护理，研究人员在问：“我们是否需要过去使用的所有治疗？”It is a question, “that should be asked over and over again,” said Dr. Tatjana Kolevska of the Kaiser Permanente National Cancer Excellence Program. Kolevska was not involved in the new research.这是一个“应该一遍又一遍地问”的问题，凯撒永久国家癌症卓越项目的Tatjana Kolevska博士说。Kolevska并未参与新的研究。Often, doing less works because of improved drugs.通常，减少治疗有效是因为药物的改进。Dr. William G. Nelson of Johns Hopkins School of Medicine was also not involved in the new research. He said, “The good news is that cancer treatment is not only becoming more effective, it’s becoming easier to tolerate and associated with less short-term and long-term complications.”约翰霍普金斯医学院的William G. Nelson博士也没有参与新的研究。他说：“好消息是，癌症治疗不仅变得更有效，而且更容易耐受，并且与更少的短期和长期并发症相关。”The term complications means to make a medical problem worse or to cause new medical problems to appear.并发症一词意味着使医疗问题恶化或导致出现新的医疗问题。Studies showing the effects of reduced treatments were discussed recently at an American Society of Clinical Oncology conference in Chicago.显示减少治疗效果的研究最近在芝加哥的美国临床肿瘤学会会议上进行了讨论。Here are a few key points:以下是一些要点：French researchers found that it is safe to avoid removing lymph nodes that appear healthy during surgery for advanced ovarian cancer. The study compared the results for 379 patients.法国研究人员发现，在晚期卵巢癌手术中避免切除看起来健康的淋巴结是安全的。该研究比较了379名患者的结果。Half had their lymph nodes removed and half did not. After nine years, there was no difference in how long the patients lived.一半患者切除了淋巴结，一半没有。九年后，患者的生存时间没有差异。Those with less-extreme surgery had fewer complications, such as the need for blood transfusions. The research was financed by the National Institute of Cancer in France.那些接受较少激烈手术的患者并发症更少，比如需要输血的情况。该研究由法国国家癌症研究所资助。A German study looked at 438 people with a kind of cancer of the esophagus that can be treated with surgery. Half received a common treatment plan that included chemotherapy and surgery on the esophagus, the tube that carries food from the throat to the stomach. Half got another treatment that includes radiation, too. Both techniques are considered standard. Which one patients get can depends on where they get treatment.一项德国研究调查了438名患有一种可以通过手术治疗的食道癌患者。一半患者接受了一种包括化疗和食道手术的常规治疗方案，食道是从喉咙到胃的食物通道。另一半患者接受了包括放疗在内的另一种治疗。这两种技术都被认为是标准的。患者接受哪种治疗取决于他们在哪里接受治疗。After three years, 57 percent of those who got chemo and surgery were alive, compared to 51 percent of those who got chemo, surgery and radiation. The German Research Foundation financed the study.三年后，接受化疗和手术的患者中有57%存活，相比之下，接受化疗、手术和放疗的患者中有51%存活。该研究由德国研究基金会资助。A comparison of two chemotherapy treatments for advanced Hodgkin lymphoma found the gentler treatment was more effective for the blood cancer and caused fewer side effects.对两种晚期霍奇金淋巴瘤化疗治疗的比较发现，较温和的治疗对这种血癌更有效，并且引起的副作用更少。After four years, the gentler chemo kept the disease in control in 94 percent of people, compared to 91 percent of those who had the more powerful treatment. The trial included 1,482 people in nine countries — Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Australia and New Zealand.四年后，较温和的化疗在94%的人群中控制了疾病，而更强的治疗在91%的人群中控制了疾病。该试验包括了来自九个国家的1482人——德国、奥地利、瑞士、荷兰、丹麦、瑞典、挪威、澳大利亚和新西兰。The study was financed by Takeda Oncology, the maker of one of the drugs used in the gentler chemo that was studied.该研究由武田肿瘤公司资助，武田肿瘤公司是研究中使用的较温和化疗药物之一的制造商。