That was why researchers took another look at the standard treatment for rectal cancer. But the radiation puts women into immediate menopause and damages sexual function in men and women. Yet radiation treatment, the study found, did not improve outcomes. For colon and rectal cancer specialists, the results can transform their patients’ lives, said Dr. Kimmie Ng, a co-director of the colon and rectal cancer center at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, who was not an author of the study. “Now, especially, with patients skewing younger and younger, do they actually need radiation?” she asked.

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Persons: Kimmie Ng, Dana, Dr, John Plastaras Organizations: Farber Cancer Institute, Penn Medicine Abramson Cancer Center