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Treatment Prevents the Spread of
Cancer
A group of researchers from the University of Chicago
have found an intense course of radiation and chemotherapy can control the spread of head
and neck cancer in patients with advanced disease.
The treatment involves using three common chemotherapy
drugs along with twice daily doses of radiation. The "chemoradiotherapy" was
found to control the spread of cancer in 90 per cent of the 66 patients tested. In
addition, only seven per cent of the patients required disfiguring surgery in the head and
neck area to remove cancers.
The overall survival rate of the patients after three
years was 55 per cent, which doctors say is encouraging since head and neck cancers are
difficult to treat. However, the drugs used in the study were, in many cases, too toxic
for patients. Side effects were frequently severe and in a few cases resulted in deaths.
For example, 81 per cent of patients had temporary, but severe, drops in white blood cell
counts. Patients also had a restricted ability to eat normally for at least a year.
Doctors hope that finding better chemotherapy drugs and
even radiation protection agents may reduce toxicity for future studies. |
