British researchers say breathing exercises can improve radiation therapy for cancer. The reason is simple: the more still the patient is, the more accurate the radiation will be.
Radiation therapy works in such a way that the patient lies in an accelerator that directs the radiation very precisely to the tumor inside the body.
Ensures precise radiation therapy
By directing radiation at the tumor from many places, the doctors ensure that the cancer cells receive the most radiation while healthy cells in the vicinity of the tumor receive the least dose.
This is only possible if the patient lies completely still, especially if the tumor is in the chest or abdomen. It is therefore an advantage if the patient can hold his breath for a long time at a time.
The cancer radiation will be much more accurate if the patient holds his breath.
Researchers at the University of Birmingham in England studied how quickly people can be trained to hold their breath for a long time.
30 volunteers of both sexes were made to do breathing exercises and then given oxygen-rich air for a few minutes.
Participants held their breath for six minutes
Finally, the people were asked to breathe very fast to clear as much carbon dioxide as possible from the blood. Immediately after one day of training, people were able to hold their breath for six minutes, and after a few additional days, the people were able to repeat this at short intervals.
The results showed that with good training it is possible to hold your breath for a total of 41 minutes in one hour.
The researchers believe that this is enough to improve radiation therapy so much that it is worth the price to test the method in a clinical trial.
