New Research Shows Cancer Patients May Need Less of These Types of Treatment for Better Results
The motto “less is more” may have found some scientific backing when it comes to cancer treatments, according to reports that have recently emerged from the American Society of Clinical Oncology conference in Chicago, hailed as the world’s largest cancer conference.
According to the Associated Press, reports presented at the conference over the weekend showed that scaling back treatment for three types of cancer — ovarian, esophageal, and Hodgkin lymphoma — can improve patient quality of life without compromising outcomes.
This reportedly includes conducting less surgery, less chemotherapy or less radiation.
The study found that reducing these treatments could help patients live longer and feel better.
It’s a far cry from nearly 30 years ago when the focus of cancer research was on increasing treatment intensity.
A notable example involved women with advanced breast cancer undergoing extreme chemotherapy and bone marrow transplants, which proved no more effective than standard chemotherapy and caused significant suffering.
“The good news is that cancer treatment is not only becoming more effective, it’s becoming easier to tolerate and associated with less short-term and long-term complications,” said Dr. William G. Nelson from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, who was reportedly not involved in the recent research.
According to the American Cancer Society, in 2024, the United States is expected to see over 2 million new cancer cases.
This translates to roughly 5,500 new diagnoses each day.
The National Cancer Institute’s Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program projects that more than 611,700 people will die from cancer in the United States in 2024 alone.
That is over 1,600 deaths per day.
The study’s findings, which were revealed during the conference, noted that French researchers found that it’s safe to avoid removing healthy-looking lymph nodes during surgery for advanced ovarian cancer.
The researchers conducted a study — funded by the National Institute of Cancer in France — which included 379 patients in which half had their lymph nodes removed while the other half did not.
It found that after nine years, survival rates were similar between the two groups, but those who underwent less-extensive surgery experienced fewer complications, including the need for blood transfusions.
A German study — funded by the German Research Foundation — involving 438 esophageal cancer patients compared two treatment plans over three years. Half of the participants received chemotherapy and surgery, while the other half received chemotherapy, surgery, and radiation. After the three years, 57 percent of those who received chemotherapy and surgery were alive, compared to 51 percent of those who also received radiation.
Another study — funded by Takeda Oncology — compared two chemotherapy regimens for advanced Hodgkin lymphoma and found that less-intensive treatment was more effective and caused fewer side effects. It included 1,482 people from nine countries. After four years, the disease was controlled in 94 percent of patients receiving the less harsh chemotherapy, compared to 91 percent of those receiving the more intense treatment.
Last month, renowned Australian pathologist and oncologist, Richard Scolyer, announced that he is cancer-free a year after using his own experimental immunotherapy to combat glioblastoma, a typically fatal brain cancer.
His treatment, adapted from his successful work in immunotherapy for melanoma, reportedly led to this remarkable outcome.
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