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Oct. 22, 2001 |
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Combination therapies extend survival for many cancers LISBON -- Oct. 22, 2001 (Cancer Digest) -- Blending old treatments and new ideas is transforming cancer care, say researchers gathered at the European Cancer Conference today in Lisbon. Several studies presented at the conference involve combinations of radiation therapy and chemotherapy (drug therapy) in the treatment of cervical, testicular, ovarian, bladder and small cell lung cancers. Several of the studies using combinations of radiation therapy with the chemotherapy drug, cisplatin, have resulted in longer periods cancer-free survival and longer survival overall according to Dr. Gillian Thomas of the Sunnybrook Regional Cancer Center in Toronto, Canada. "Seldom do we seem to have so many results from several clinical trials pointing in the same direction," Thomas told the Lisbon meeting. Radiotherapy was discovered nearly 100 years ago. Cisplatin was discovered by accident in the mid-60s by scientists studying the effect of electric current on the E.Coli bacterium; and has been used to treat Using radiation to eradicate tumors (radical radiation therapy) has been the accepted standard of care for advanced cervical cancer for some time. But combining radiotherapy with cisplatin seems to achieve better results according to results from five large clinical trials being presented at the conference. The trials compared various doses and schedules of cisplatin and radiotherapy to radiotherapy alone, extended radiotherapy, or radiation and hydroxyurea, another anti-cancer drug. Survival rates for combined cisplatin, radiation treatment ranged 9 to 18 per cent higher for patients treated with the combination therapy as compared to patients who underwent radiation therapy alone. But Thomas pointed out that the evidence in favor of concurrent chemotherapy and radiotherapy was not entirely clear-cut. Two large Canadian studies showed no detectable benefit: the results suggested that the optimal regimens of concurrent "chemo-radiation" were ill defined. Dr. Thomas also asked if cisplatin was the key, or if other combinations of chemotherapy and radiotherapy would achieve similar results. A Dutch team reported success in using combination of intra-arterial cisplatin and radiotherapy in treating advanced, inoperable head and neck cancer. Dr. Coen Rasch, of the Netherlands Cancer Institute, reported that about 90 per cent of the 85 patients went into complete remission. Combination therapy success stories were not restricted to cisplatin. A United States team led by Dr. John Macdonald, of the Saint Vincent's Comprehensive Cancer Care Center, New York, demonstrated a 52 per cent improvement in relapse free survival among patients with gastric cancer who received post-operative combined radiotherapy and chemotherapy with Leucovorin. |
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