A new cancer treatment has been shown to dramatically improve the survival rate of
Hodgkin lymphoma patients who have failed to respond to existing drugs.
Data presented to the 17th Congress of the European Hematology Association
revealed that in 25 per cent of cases where patients were given brentuximab,
cancers did not progress at all.
The research examined 102 Hodgkin lymphoma patients who had relapsed after
undergoing stem cell transplant procedures.
After 16 doses of the drug over a 48-week period, tumours totally disappeared
in 32 per cent of people and reduced in size by at least half in 40 per cent of
patients.
A further 21 per cent of sufferers experienced some level of tumour shrinkage,
while only six percent of patients had no response to the drug.
Cancer Research UK states that 78 per cent of patients diagnosed with the
disease in 2007 are expected to survive until at least 2017.
© Adfero Ltd
Cancer treatment news : 29 June 2012
