NEW CANCER TREATMENT - LIQUID RADIATION

Finbar

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Dec 15, 2004
Messages
191
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/MedicineCuttingEdge/story?id=468399&page=1

Headline: "New Cancer Treatment Causes Fewer Side Effects. Liquid Radiation Destroys Cancer Without Ravaging Rest of Body."

Published in today's New England Journal of Medicine. The drug is called Bexxar.

Can fight lymphoma and fights the disease more quickly and with fewer side effects than exisiting treatments.

"And when it latches on to it, it now has radiation attached to it and the radiation is essentially there at the site where you want it, radiating the tumor and not radiating other tissues," said Dr. Kaminski, director of the Multidisciplinary Lymphoma Clinic at the University of Michigan Cancer Center.

When Bexxar was used to combat non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, 59% of patients remained cancer-free during the five years of study.

Few Side Effects

The liguid radiation treatment is completed in just one week, compared to the 4 1/2 months often required for chemotherapy. There are remarkably few side effects - no hair loss, less nausea and a lower risk of infection. Fatigue is the most common side effect.

Go to page two for the rest of story and more on page one.

There will probably be more types of cancer in which this approach will be used.

I lost a girlfriend to Hogkins. Too bad this was not around then.

Hope this will help those posting in the other thread; with loved ones affected by this scourge.

All Me Best,
Fin
 

Hookd_On_Photons

Enlightened
Joined
Oct 28, 2004
Messages
647
More information:

http://www.lymphomation.org/bexxar-info.htm

http://www.lymphoma.org/site/pp.asp?c=bfIKIVMIG&b=107710

It should be noted that Bexxar is indicated for a single specific type of cancer (CD20 positive, follicular, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma), not all types of cancer.

It's like a smart bomb. It's an antibody with a radioactive iodine isotope attached. The antibody binds to CD20 (a protein on the cell membrane) and the I-131 "warhead" delivers ionizing radiation to the cell. CD20 is not specific to lymphoma cells, so the majority of patients who receive this treatment will have lower blood counts (which is true for standard chemotherapy as well).

Other radioimmunotherapy treatments here:

http://www.lymphomation.org/treatment-rit-other.htm
 
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