Cancer is a deadly diseasethere is no denying it, but there is some controversy where conventional cancer treatments are involved, many of them suspected of being more harmful than the cancer itself. A new study from Dana Farber/Boston Childrens Cancer and Blood Disorders Center found that children with a certain type of brain tumor who were treated with radiation had a lower survival rate than those who werent, offering additional evidence that some of these treatments could do more harm than good. According to a press release from Dana-Farber, the research was the first large-scale cohort study of its kind, looking at the long-term survival rate of children treated for low-grade gliomas, the most common type of pediatric brain tumor.
The researchers found that though overall almost 90 percent of the children were alive 20 years later, only 70 percent of those who had received radiation treatment were alive.