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Alpha radiation treats prostate cancers
12:45, 24 September, 2011
ARMENPRESS
A trial of a new cancer drug, which accurately targets tumours, has
been so successful it has been stopped early.
Doctors at London's Royal Marsden Hospital gave prostate cancer
patients a powerful alpha radiation drug and found that they lived
longer, and experienced less pain and side effects.
The medics then stopped the trial of 922 people, saying it was
unethical not to offer all of them the treatment.
Lead researcher Dr Chris Parker said it was "a significant step forward".
Cancer Research UK said it was a very important and promising discovery.
Radiation has been used to treat tumours for more than a century. It
damages the genetic code inside cancerous cells.
Alpha particles are the big, bulky, bruisers of the radiation world.
It is a barrage of helium nuclei, which are far bigger than beta
radiation, a stream of electrons, or gamma waves.
Dr Parker told the BBC: "It's more damaging. It takes one, two, three
hits to kill a cancer cell compared with thousands of hits for beta
particles."
Alpha particles also do less damage to surrounding tissue. He added:
"They have such a tiny range, a few millionths of a metre. So we can
be sure that the damage is being done where it should be."
In 90% of patients with advanced prostate cancer, the tumour will have
spread to the bone. At this stage there are no treatments which affect
survival.
The study looked at patients with these secondary cancers, as the
source of radiation - radium-223 chloride - acts like calcium and
sticks to bone.
Half were given the radium-223 chloride drug alongside traditional
chemotherapy, while the other patients received chemotherapy and a
dummy pill.
The death rate was 30% lower in the group taking radium-223. Those
patients survived for 14 months on average compared to 11 months in
the dummy group.
The trial was abandoned as "it would have been unethical not to offer
the active treatment to those taking placebo", said Dr Parker.
He added: "I think it will be a significant step forward for cancer patients".
Researchers also said the treatment was safe. Curiously there were
fewer side-effects in the group taking the treatment than those taking
the dummy medicine.
The findings are being presented at the European Multidisciplinary
Cancer Congress but they have not yet been peer-reviewed by other
academics.
Prof Gillies McKenna, Cancer Research UK's radiotherapy expert and
director of the Gray Institute for Radiation Oncology and Biology,
said: "This appears to be an important study using a highly targeted
form of radiation to treat prostate cancer that has spread to the
bones.
"This research looks very promising and could be an important addition
to approaches available to treat secondary tumours - and should be
investigated further."
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
12:45, 24 September, 2011
ARMENPRESS
A trial of a new cancer drug, which accurately targets tumours, has
been so successful it has been stopped early.
Doctors at London's Royal Marsden Hospital gave prostate cancer
patients a powerful alpha radiation drug and found that they lived
longer, and experienced less pain and side effects.
The medics then stopped the trial of 922 people, saying it was
unethical not to offer all of them the treatment.
Lead researcher Dr Chris Parker said it was "a significant step forward".
Cancer Research UK said it was a very important and promising discovery.
Radiation has been used to treat tumours for more than a century. It
damages the genetic code inside cancerous cells.
Alpha particles are the big, bulky, bruisers of the radiation world.
It is a barrage of helium nuclei, which are far bigger than beta
radiation, a stream of electrons, or gamma waves.
Dr Parker told the BBC: "It's more damaging. It takes one, two, three
hits to kill a cancer cell compared with thousands of hits for beta
particles."
Alpha particles also do less damage to surrounding tissue. He added:
"They have such a tiny range, a few millionths of a metre. So we can
be sure that the damage is being done where it should be."
In 90% of patients with advanced prostate cancer, the tumour will have
spread to the bone. At this stage there are no treatments which affect
survival.
The study looked at patients with these secondary cancers, as the
source of radiation - radium-223 chloride - acts like calcium and
sticks to bone.
Half were given the radium-223 chloride drug alongside traditional
chemotherapy, while the other patients received chemotherapy and a
dummy pill.
The death rate was 30% lower in the group taking radium-223. Those
patients survived for 14 months on average compared to 11 months in
the dummy group.
The trial was abandoned as "it would have been unethical not to offer
the active treatment to those taking placebo", said Dr Parker.
He added: "I think it will be a significant step forward for cancer patients".
Researchers also said the treatment was safe. Curiously there were
fewer side-effects in the group taking the treatment than those taking
the dummy medicine.
The findings are being presented at the European Multidisciplinary
Cancer Congress but they have not yet been peer-reviewed by other
academics.
Prof Gillies McKenna, Cancer Research UK's radiotherapy expert and
director of the Gray Institute for Radiation Oncology and Biology,
said: "This appears to be an important study using a highly targeted
form of radiation to treat prostate cancer that has spread to the
bones.
"This research looks very promising and could be an important addition
to approaches available to treat secondary tumours - and should be
investigated further."
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress