Scientists In Amsterdam Says New Treatment Can Make Breast Cancer Tumors ‘Disappear’ In Just 11 Days Without Chemo.

Any day where a new study shows a potential treatment for cancer is a good day, and scientists in Europe may have found a breakthrough for breast cancer. The most common cancer in women, around 1 in 8 American women will develop it in their lifetime; the clinical trial may have found a way to rid us of it once and for all in the future.

Breast Cancer Breakthrough

Nigel Bundred, professor of surgical oncology at Manchester University, presented a study at the European Breast Cancer Conference in Amsterdam revealed that they had tested the effectiveness of a pair of drugs known as Herceptin (a.k.a trastuzumab) and Lapatinib.

The two drugs are commonly used in breast cancer treatment already, but this is the first time they had been combined together and used before surgery and chemotherapy. What they found was they were able to eliminate some types of breast cancer in just 11 days.

This research is funded by Cancer Research UK and its purpose is to use these drugs to fight off HER2, a protein which affects the growth and division of cancerous cells.  This growth factor has higher chances of coming back when compared to other cancer types.

What also makes this treatment promising is the fact that it eliminates the need for chemotherapy and surgery. The temporary side effects like hair loss, vomiting and fatigue are also avoided, making treatment less impactful on the body. Chemo is not entirely effective, nor is it the right choice for a lot of patients, so any alternatives are welcomed.

Study Results

The study involved 257 women with HER2 positive breast cancer, half of which were given the aforementioned drug combination and the other half were the control group. It has been found that 11 percent of those on the drug had no cancer cells remaining within two weeks and 17 percent of the cases showed drop in tumor size.

In comparison to the control group who were only given Herceptin, they were found to have 0{a8918b4b0e6da5877a953b5121cd96b60dc6eb4c5c794e71f46c34777f2c3294} with no trace of cancer cells and only 3{a8918b4b0e6da5877a953b5121cd96b60dc6eb4c5c794e71f46c34777f2c3294} showed a drop in tumor size. Clearly, the combination of the two drugs proved to be superior to being used on their own.

The problem currently, however, is that Herceptin’s licensing makes it only available for use alongside chemotherapy and not alone. The results of this study may help to change that though.

Although there’s still a lot of work to be done, hopefully, this is a major step in the fight against one of the world’s deadliest diseases. With medical advancements improving every year, it’s entirely possible this could happen sooner than we think!

Source: themagicoflife