2023-06-05 08:40:56
The latest research published by the American medical profession shows that certain cancer patients who receive less invasive treatment have better prognosis. Some patients, including cervical cancer, pancreatic cancer, rectal cancer, and Hodgkin’s lymphoma, have less invasive treatment and still have a good therapeutic effect. Relevant research results can help doctors design treatment options with fewer side effects and lower costs.
The Wall Street Journal reported that the American Society of Clinical Oncology held its annual meeting last weekend. The research published at the meeting showed that the effect of minimally invasive surgery on pancreatic cancer patients detected early is comparable to that of traditional highly invasive open surgery.
For some low-risk cervical cancer patients, a simple hysterectomy that removes the uterus and cervix is equivalent to a more complex and expensive radical hysterectomy.
Women who had the simple surgery had fewer sequelae of bladder problems, body image, pain levels and sexual activity, the report said. Marie Plante, a gynecological oncologist at the Quebec University Medical Center (CHU), Canada, said that due to the improvement in the cure rate of certain cancers and the prolonged survival time of patients following treatment, more and more cancer patients are beginning to pay attention to the quality of life following treatment.
The report pointed out that a growing body of evidence has enabled doctors to design treatments with fewer side effects and costs. New treatments and tests are not only prolonging patients’ lives, but also making cancer treatment less of a crude one-size-fits-all approach; doctors are increasingly able to determine which patients need the most aggressive treatment and which patients can receive less treatment and reduce side effects.
“It’s time to consider less toxic therapies,” said Julie Gralow, chief medical officer and executive vice president of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.
Another study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine and the Journal of Clinical Oncology, looked at regarding 1,200 rectal cancer patients whose tumors had spread to nearby tissues or lymph nodes, regarding half of whom had received standard chemotherapy and radiation therapy. The other half of the patients received more aggressive chemotherapy but not radiation therapy unless their tumors shrank by less than 20 percent.
Only regarding 10 percent of patients who received chemotherapy alone but no radiation required radiation therapy, the results showed. Five years later, the treatment effect was maintained, showing that many patients with rectal cancer can safely omit radiation therapy, which increases the risk of pelvic fractures, bowel and sexual dysfunction, infertility, and more.
“This trial really shows that ‘less is more,'” said Pamela Kunz, director of the Center for Gastrointestinal Oncology at the Yale Cancer Center.
However, patients who received more aggressive chemotherapy without radiation also experienced a number of different short-term side effects, including loss of appetite, fatigue and neurological damage. Some patients may still choose to receive radiation therapy, the researchers said.
Another study, to be published Monday (6/5), looks at reducing treatment strategies for head and neck cancers caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV). About 45 patients received standard chemotherapy in the first phase and, if they responded well, received lower doses of chemotherapy and radiation in the next phase. The results showed that goals were achieved in terms of treatment safety and tumor control.
The study was conducted by Dr. Marshall Posner, chief of head and neck cancer oncology at Mount Sinai Tisch Cancer Center in New York. His patient, 69-year-old New Yorker Robert Ihle, underwent a complete treatment plan, and “the last seven sessions were like hell on earth.”
Earl said he was unable to swallow or speak following treatment for mouth sores. 10 years later still have dry mouth and neck pain from radiation therapy and numbness or tingling in feet from chemotherapy. He then developed a second tumor in his throat.
Radiation oncologists point out that today’s radiation therapy is less toxic than in the past and can be more concentrated on the tumor site, but it still causes a series of side effects depending on the treatment site.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) this year issued draft guidance to cancer drug developers on how to determine the optimal dose of a new treatment. Because of the low precision of these drugs and the need for patients to receive treatment quickly, patients are traditionally dosed at the highest tolerable dose.
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