The wonders of modern medicine and allied improvements in the understanding of matters like nutrition and toxicity have had a massive positive impact on the life expectancy of people in the most advanced countries in the world. But the benefits of advancement and affluence can bring with them a number of other health problems.

Whether it is pollution caused by industrialisation, easy access to unhealthy food that combines with sedentary lifestyles to increase obesity, or the health challenges that come from people living longer, there are some unfortunate trade-offs to contend with.

Cancer is undoubtedly one of those. Although some causes of cancer through exposure to carcinogenic substances are on the wane, such as fewer people smoking and better awareness of the risks from sunburn, other cancer-causing factors remain common and the chances of suffering from them increase with age.

EU data for 2022 has shown what the nature of the challenge now is for the Bloc’s 27 countries, including Austria. There were 2.74 million new cancer cases last year, up 2.3 per cent in the previous survey in 2020. Cancer deaths were up by 2.4 per cent to 1.3 million.

While the 0.1 per cent gap between case and death rates may not be statistically significant, nor does that indicate that a greater number of people are surviving.

The data showed that the most common form of death was still lung cancer, accounting for 19.5 per cent of cases, with colorectal cancer second at 12.3 per cent.

This differed somewhat from the detection rates, with lung cancer only accounting for 11.6 per cent of diagnoses, less than the 12.1 per cent figure for prostate cancer, the third most commonly diagnosed cancer but not one of the top four killers.

Of course, cancer treatment was impacted by Covid as lockdowns left some hesitant to seek medical examinations and a possible diagnosis for fear of contracting the virus, a genuine concern for older and more vulnerable people. However, the figures identified in the survey reflect some longer-term trends and pose a significant healthcare challenge.

If more people will contract cancer, it is important to ask what can be done about that. Should it be simply accepted that for many, this is how they eventually die in old age when in the past they would not have lived so long? Or can advances in radiotherapy and other treatments bring down mortality rates?

At our radiotherapy centre in Austria, every life saved is a triumph, although it must be noted that sometimes even the best radiotherapy can only prolong the life of cancer patients, not cure them outright.

The science of radiotherapy has been advancing ever since it was first used at the turn of the 20th century. Given the side effects that the use of radiation against cancer produces, the trade-off has always been at the centre of research into ways of making radiotherapy more efficient.

Of all the innovations in this area, the gamma knife may be the greatest, because it is so effective at focusing radiation exactly where it is needed, leaving surrounding areas virtually untouched, a critical issue when dealing with brain tumours.

However, other radiotherapy developments have similarly advanced the focus of beams, helping to direct radiation with ever more intensity and precision.

With this in mind, alongside advancements in other cancer treatments, there can be genuine hope that overall deaths can be reduced and that in time, even if cases rise, mortality can head in the opposite direction.

Indeed, while the EU figures were prefaced with the acknowledgement of the significance of old age in increasing cases and mortality, it also noted that 25 per cent of women and 31 per cent of men were expected to be diagnosed with cancer before the age of 75, with mortality rates of nine and 14 per cent respectively. Cutting the latter is a real goal to aim for.

Of course, the overall EU picture is different from that of individual countries. The charts show Austria fared better than average for both identified cases and mortality. That may indicate both better healthcare and healthier lifestyles to start with.

The EU currently projects that all-age mortality from Cancer will rise by 18.39 per cent to 3.25 million a year by 2040, with demographic factors accounting for the whole of this increase. With some EU countries having low birth rates and even falling populations, this is likely to be a matter of populations being older, not more numerous.

Austria is tipped to remain one of the countries with the lowest increases, but here and everywhere across Europe, the challenge will be to find ways of getting the numbers down.

How Radiotherapy Relieves Cancer Pain

The vast majority of people who have booked appointments at our Radiotherapy Clinic  in the Vienna Private Clinic Cancer Center  have done so in order to take advantage of a highly targeted, specialist treatment that helps to remove lesions and tumours before they can cause harm through growing and spreading.

The stereotactic radiosurgery, for example, is a highly effective targeted radiotherapy treatment that uses a range of focused beams of radiation to destroy tumours with little damage to surrounding tissue.

However, besides treatment, radiotherapy has a number of other purposes, one of which is less about a curative treatment and more focused on palliative care and relieving the pain that can come from more advanced stages of cancer.

Whilst primarily used for helping relieve the pain associated with bone cancer, it can be used to help with the management of other types of cancer induced pain.

How Cancer Causes Pain

To understand how radiotherapy helps with pain relief, it is important to know the reasons why cancer can cause people pain.

When tumors grow, they can start to press against other parts of the body, such as nerves, organ tissue and bones. Another mechanism is when the tumor grows into a tissue (e.g. bone) and by that destroys it and causes there painful inflammation.

With bone cancer, this destruction can lead to fractures and breaks, which can cause agonising pain that compounds the pain caused by cancer in the first place, which can reach the point of being unbearable at more advanced stages. If the destructed bone is within the spine, breaks could even cause paralysation, which is a much feared result from bone metastases and therefore needs swift treatment in order to be avoided.

What Radiotherapy Can Do For Your Relief

Radiotherapy works to reduce pain in similar ways to how it can help reduce or remove cancer at less advanced stages.

It reduces the size of cancer tumours, which stops them from pressing against nerves and other parts of the body, and can in some cases make these tumours more viably treated.

For tumours that press on the spinal cord or have started to obstruct the airway, these can provide significant relief or even become a vital part of treatment.

It can help to heal destructed bones and so prevent bone fractures and palsy.

It can also be used if a cancer is ulcerating and thus causing bleeding by healing cancer caused  ulceration and stop the bleeding.

However, it cannot always be used and targeted radiotherapy in the process of pain relief must be mindfully  used by an experiences radiation oncologist in order to achieve the necessary relief.

This is also managed by using lower doses and fewer sessions of treatment  in palliative radiotherapy than would be used in curative settings since the purpose is to shrink the tumour rather than completely excise it.

It can also be used in combination with other medications and treatments to help relieve pain as well, depending on the type of cancer and how it reacts to different treatments.

Palliative treatment is not intended to cure the cancer, but it is commonly effective at reducing symptoms and allowing a better quality of life as well as a longer life expectancy for people in the advanced stages of cancer.

Medical Advisory Dr. David Kuczer

Source: Amethyst Radiotherapy