Thema: Presse: New Research Gives Brain Tumor Patients Hope
Presse: New Research Gives Brain Tumor Patients Hope
Andrea[a]
21.06.2004 23:30:59
New Research Gives Brain Tumor Patients Hope
Radiologist Outlives Life Expectancy
NEW YORK -- A radiologist who treated himself for a deadly brain tumor with an experimental cancer drug is outliving doctors´ predictions for his life expectancy, NewsChannel 4 reported.
The experimental medication, Tarceva, is currently being researched by doctors at the Cleveland Clinic. Early clinical test results show the drug shrunk tumors or kept them from growing in 30 patients.
When Jim Goettsch was diagnosed with glio blastoma multiforme, a deadly brain tumor, he assumed he did not have much longer to live.
"He was very upset, and he told us it´s like your whole world collapses," said Patti Goettsch, Jim´s wife.
Goettsch decided to become what he calls a "living science experiment." He began taking Tarceva and has outlived doctor´s expectations for his life expectancy by several months.
Still, cases like Goettsch´s are difficult to treat because the brain rebuffs cancer drugs, doctors´ say. Cleveland Clinic scientists are trying to find a way around the problem.
One solution could be to pump Tarceva directly into the cancerous tumor, said Dr. Michael Vogelbaum, of the Cleveland Clinic.
"Delivering directly to the brain has two advantages," Vogelbaum said. "One is that you may be able to get more effective concentrations to the tumor, and the second is that you avoid the toxicity from the drug to the rest of the body."
It may be months before researchers know whether this way of giving the drug works, Newschannel 4 reported. If it does, it could give patients like Goettsch a better chance of survival.
According to the American Cancer Society, more than 12,000 people in the United States will die from brain, spinal cord and other nervous system tumors in 2004. And in adults and children, malignant brain tumors account for two percent of all cancer-related deaths.
© 2004 by WNBC.com.
POSTED: 7:02 pm EDT June 16, 2004
UPDATED: 8:02 pm EDT June 17, 2004
Radiologist Outlives Life Expectancy
NEW YORK -- A radiologist who treated himself for a deadly brain tumor with an experimental cancer drug is outliving doctors´ predictions for his life expectancy, NewsChannel 4 reported.
The experimental medication, Tarceva, is currently being researched by doctors at the Cleveland Clinic. Early clinical test results show the drug shrunk tumors or kept them from growing in 30 patients.
When Jim Goettsch was diagnosed with glio blastoma multiforme, a deadly brain tumor, he assumed he did not have much longer to live.
"He was very upset, and he told us it´s like your whole world collapses," said Patti Goettsch, Jim´s wife.
Goettsch decided to become what he calls a "living science experiment." He began taking Tarceva and has outlived doctor´s expectations for his life expectancy by several months.
Still, cases like Goettsch´s are difficult to treat because the brain rebuffs cancer drugs, doctors´ say. Cleveland Clinic scientists are trying to find a way around the problem.
One solution could be to pump Tarceva directly into the cancerous tumor, said Dr. Michael Vogelbaum, of the Cleveland Clinic.
"Delivering directly to the brain has two advantages," Vogelbaum said. "One is that you may be able to get more effective concentrations to the tumor, and the second is that you avoid the toxicity from the drug to the rest of the body."
It may be months before researchers know whether this way of giving the drug works, Newschannel 4 reported. If it does, it could give patients like Goettsch a better chance of survival.
According to the American Cancer Society, more than 12,000 people in the United States will die from brain, spinal cord and other nervous system tumors in 2004. And in adults and children, malignant brain tumors account for two percent of all cancer-related deaths.
© 2004 by WNBC.com.
POSTED: 7:02 pm EDT June 16, 2004
UPDATED: 8:02 pm EDT June 17, 2004
Andrea[a]
