Researchers from Johns Hopkins, reporting in the most recent online version of the Journal of Clinical Oncology, have determined that a new method for delivering chemotherapy to patients suffering from advanced, inoperable liver cancer.
Their study consisted of 35 patients with late-stage, inoperable liver cancer. They gave the patients two drugs that have been approved independently for the treatment of liver cancer: The chemotherapy mainstay doxorubicin, and an oral drug called sorafenib. Both drugs have proven to increase the survival rates for this patient population, which otherwise faces a very grim prognosis. So researchers thought to combine them in the hopes of upping their efficacy, but this study wasn't as much about the drugs used as it was about the method of delivery.
Researchers employed a method known about for a couple of decades, called chemoembolization in order to administer the doxorubicin. While the sorafenib was taken orally, the doxorubicin was administered through a catheter the size of a single human hair, which is threaded into the tumor, Microbeads, full of doxorubicin, are then delivered through the catheter. Over the course of as many as three weeks, the drug seeps out of the microbeads and attacks the cancerous cells in the liver.
Patients reported no more or less side effects than when the drugs have been administered in the past, and the results from this study have encouraged Johns Hopkins investigators to launch a bigger, Phase III trial looking at whether there is a benefit to chemoembolization with or without the oral sorafenib.
Source
Pawlik TM et al. Phase II Trial of Sorafenib Combined With Concurrent TransarterialChemoembolization With Drug-Eluting Beads for Hepatocellular Carcinoma. doi:10.1200/JCO.2011.37.1021.
The information provided on CancerTreatment.net is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between a patient/site visitor and his/her health professional. This information is solely for informational purposes and does not constitute the practice of medicine. We encourage all visitors to see a licensed physician or nutritionist if they have any concerns regarding health issues related to diet, personal image and any other topics discussed on this site. Neither the owners or employees of CancerTreatment.net nor the author(s) of site content take responsibility for any possible consequences from any treatment, procedure, exercise, dietary modification, action or application of medication which results from reading this site. Always speak with your primary health care provider before engaging in any form of self treatment. Please see our Legal Statement for further information.
