Many patients enter cancer trials with unrealistic expectations : upi

as declared in upi

Many patients enter cancer trials with unrealistic expectations

Many patients enter cancer trials with unrealistic expectations

MONDAY, Sept. 26, 2016 -- Many cancer patients hold unrealistic hopes when they decide to join early stage clinical trials of experimental treatments, new research shows.These trials -- known as phase 1 trials -- evaluate the safety and possible benefits of treatments that have never before been tested on people.Many of these trials are limited to patients who have advanced disease or who have not responded to other treatments.Usually, patients start a trial on a low dose of medication and gradually get bigger doses until a recommended level is set for a new phase 2 trial.


let alone reuters

Kite immunotherapy drug helps blood cancer patients in study

Kite immunotherapy drug helps blood cancer patients in study

Kite Pharma Inc on Monday said its experimental CAR T-cell therapy, which helps the immune system fight cancer, was highly effective in treating aggressive non-Hodgkin lymphoma, although two deaths were related to the drug, according to interim data from a midstage trial.Shares of Kite, which had been halted before the release of the news, rose 11 percent when trading resumed.Some 76 percent of patients taking the drug, called KTE-C19, showed significant tumor shrinkage, including 47 percent who had no remaining signs of cancer at least three months after receiving the treatment, Kite said.CAR T-cell drugs are made by genetically altering a patients' own T-cells to add a component of antibodies that makes them better able to spot and kill cancer cells.


furthermore chicagotribune

More cancer patients choosing breast removal, reconstruction — but at what cost?

More cancer patients choosing breast removal, reconstruction — but at what cost?

After two decades in which breast-conserving surgery was the preferred option for women with early breast cancer, mastectomy rates are on the rise.This trend, fueled both by fear of a relapse and by advances in surgical reconstruction, has some experts concerned that women aren't paying enough attention to the potential downside.In a newly published "consensus statement," an expert panel of the American Society of Breast Surgeons noted that more and more women are choosing to remove the entire breast, rather than just the tumor, and often the healthy breast too.The panel agreed that this option "should be discouraged for an average-risk woman" — although each patient's goals and preferences should be taken into account.