Chronomodulation of Radiation
Radiation therapy also works by disrupting DNA synthesis. The skin does much of its regeneration during the night. Yet the scheduling of radiation therapy for skin conditions is generally based on considerations of convenience to the staff and the patient, rather than timing for maximum effectiveness. "Treating somebody early in the morning for skin [disease, ed] will have little effect, positive or negative," says Hrushesky. "But if the same treatment were given in late afternoon one might have a tremendous effect on the tumor because a much larger proportion [of cancer cells, ed.] were in cell division." One wonders how many treatments that are only marginally effective might become far more worthwhile if delivered at the optimal time.
Time of day also influences the effectiveness of anti-pain medication. It has frequently been observed that some patients with skin damage have few symptoms in the morning but then progress to burning pain by late afternoon. At night the pain is even more severe. Yet, curiously, sleep "resets the clock, and the cycle starts all over again in morning. This pattern, says Dr. Hrushesky, is almost universal. The answer is to not administer maximum pain relief on a constant basis, as is frequently now done, but to base its administration around the time that the patient actually experiences the pain most severely, which is usually in the evening.
Ralph W. Moss, Ph.D. Weekly CancerDecisions.com
Radiation therapy also works by disrupting DNA synthesis. The skin does much of its regeneration during the night. Yet the scheduling of radiation therapy for skin conditions is generally based on considerations of convenience to the staff and the patient, rather than timing for maximum effectiveness. "Treating somebody early in the morning for skin [disease, ed] will have little effect, positive or negative," says Hrushesky. "But if the same treatment were given in late afternoon one might have a tremendous effect on the tumor because a much larger proportion [of cancer cells, ed.] were in cell division." One wonders how many treatments that are only marginally effective might become far more worthwhile if delivered at the optimal time.
Time of day also influences the effectiveness of anti-pain medication. It has frequently been observed that some patients with skin damage have few symptoms in the morning but then progress to burning pain by late afternoon. At night the pain is even more severe. Yet, curiously, sleep "resets the clock, and the cycle starts all over again in morning. This pattern, says Dr. Hrushesky, is almost universal. The answer is to not administer maximum pain relief on a constant basis, as is frequently now done, but to base its administration around the time that the patient actually experiences the pain most severely, which is usually in the evening.
Ralph W. Moss, Ph.D. Weekly CancerDecisions.com