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Reduced treatment for three kinds of cancer can make life easier for patients without hurting results, doctors reported recently at the world’s largest cancer conference.
最近，医生们在世界最大的癌症会议上报告说，减少对三种癌症的治疗可以使患者的生活更轻松，而不会影响治疗效果。
The findings are part of a long-term move toward studying whether doing less surgery, chemotherapy, or radiation can help patients live longer and feel better.
这些研究结果是研究减少手术、化疗或放疗是否能帮助病人活得更长、感觉更好的长期行动的一部分。
The latest studies involved ovarian and esophageal cancer and Hodgkin lymphoma.
最新的研究涉及卵巢癌、食道癌和霍奇金淋巴瘤。
Thirty years ago, cancer research was about doing more, not less.
三十年前，癌症研究是关于做更多治疗，而不是更少。
In one example, women with advanced breast cancer were pushed to the edge of death with large doses of chemotherapy and bone marrow transplants.
曾经有一个案例，患有晚期乳腺癌的妇女被大剂量的化疗和骨髓移植推到了死亡的边缘。
The treatment did not work any better than chemotherapy and patients suffered.
这种疗法并不比化疗更有效，患者也遭受了痛苦。
Now, in an effort to improve cancer care, researchers are asking: “Do we need all that treatment that we have used in the past?”
现在，为了改善癌症治疗，研究人员提出了一个问题：“我们真的需要过去使用的所有治疗方法吗？”
It is a question, “that should be asked over and over again,” said Dr. Tatjana Kolevska of the Kaiser Permanente National Cancer Excellence Program. Kolevska was not involved in the new research.
“这是一个问题，”凯撒永久国家癌症卓越项目的塔季扬娜-科列夫斯卡博士说道。科列夫斯卡没有参与这项新研究。
Often, doing less works because of improved drugs.
通常，由于药物的改进，做的治疗会变少。
Dr. William G. Nelson of Johns Hopkins School of Medicine was also not involved in the new research.
约翰霍普金斯大学医学院的威廉·G·尼尔森博士也没有参与这项新研究。
He said, “The good news is that cancer treatment is not only becoming more effective, it’s becoming easier to tolerate and associated with less short-term and long-term complications.”
他说：“好消息是，癌症治疗不仅变得更加有效，而且更容易耐受，并且与更少的短期和长期并发症相关。”
The term complications means to make a medical problem worse or to cause new medical problems to appear.
并发症一词意味着使医疗问题恶化或导致新的医疗问题出现。
Studies showing the effects of reduced treatments were discussed recently at an American Society of Clinical Oncology conference in Chicago.
最近在芝加哥举行的美国临床肿瘤学会会议上，讨论了一些关于减少治疗效果的研究。
Here are a few key points: French researchers found that it is safe to avoid removing lymph nodes that appear healthy during surgery for advanced ovarian cancer.
这里有几个关键点：法国研究人员发现，在晚期卵巢癌手术中，不切除看起来健康的淋巴结是安全的。
The study compared the results for 379 patients. Half had their lymph nodes removed and half did not.
该研究比较了379名患者的结果。一半的人切除了淋巴结，另一半没有。
After nine years, there was no difference in how long the patients lived.
九年后，患者的存活时间没有差异。
Those with less-extreme surgery had fewer complications, such as the need for blood transfusions.
那些接受不太极端手术的人并发症较少，例如需要输血的情况。
The research was financed by the National Institute of Cancer in France.
这项研究由法国国家癌症研究所资助。
A German study looked at 438 people with a kind of cancer of the esophagus that can be treated with surgery.
一项德国研究观察了438名患有某种可通过手术治疗的食道癌的人。
Half received a common treatment plan that included chemotherapy and surgery on the esophagus, the tube that carries food from the throat to the stomach.
一半人接受了常规治疗方案，包括化疗和食管手术，食管是将食物从喉咙输送到胃的管道。
Half got another treatment that includes radiation, too. Both techniques are considered standard.
一半接受了另一种也包括放疗的治疗。这两种技术都被认为是标准的。
Which one patients get can depends on where they get treatment.
患者得到哪种治疗取决于他们在哪里接受治疗。
After three years, 57 percent of those who got chemo and surgery were alive, compared to 51 percent of those who got chemo, surgery and radiation. The German Research Foundation financed the study.
三年后，接受化疗和手术的患者中有57%存活，而接受化疗、手术和放疗的患者中有51%存活。德国研究基金会资助了这项研究。
A comparison of two chemotherapy treatments for advanced Hodgkin lymphoma found the gentler treatment was more effective for the blood cancer and caused fewer side effects.
一项针对晚期霍奇金淋巴瘤的两种化疗方法的比较发现，较温和的治疗方法对血癌更有效，且副作用更少。
After four years, the gentler chemo kept the disease in control in 94 percent of people, compared to 91 percent of those who had the more powerful treatment.
四年后，接受温和化疗的患者中有94%的病情得到了控制，而接受更强效治疗的患者中这一比例为91%。
The trial included 1,482 people in nine countries — Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Australia and New Zealand.
该试验采样于九个国家的1482人，这些国家是德国、奥地利、瑞士、荷兰、丹麦、瑞典、挪威、澳大利亚和新西兰。
The study was financed by Takeda Oncology, the maker of one of the drugs used in the gentler chemo that was studied.
这项研究由武田肿瘤学公司资助，该公司是研究中使用的一种较温和化疗药物的制造商。
I’m John Russell.
我是约翰·拉塞尔。
