Page 28 - ARUBA TODAY

A28 SCIENCE
Monday 3 april 2017

A ‘sci-fi’ cancer therapy fights brain tumors, study finds

MARILYNN MARCHIONE ating low intensity, alternat- until there were long-term
AP Chief Medical Writer ing electric fields that dis- results on the whole group.
WASHINGTON (AP) — It rupt cell division — confus- THE NEW RESULTS
sounds like science fiction, ing the way chromosomes Now they’re in: Median
but a cap-like device that line up — which makes the survival was 21 months for
makes electric fields to fight cells die. Because cancer those given Optune plus
cancer improved survival cells divide often, and nor- chemo versus 16 months for
for the first time in more mal cells in the adult brain those on chemo alone. Sur-
than a decade for people do not, this in theory mostly vival rates were 43 percent
with deadly brain tumors, harms the disease and not versus 31 percent at two
final results of a large study the patient. years; 26 percent versus 16
suggest. WHAT STUDIES SHOW percent at three years, and
Many doctors are skepti- In a 2011 study, the device 13 percent versus 5 percent
cal of the therapy, called didn’t improve survival but at five years.
tumor treating fields, and caused fewer symptoms Side effects were minimal
it’s not a cure. It’s also ul- In this March 29, 2017 photo, Joyce Endresen wears an Optune than chemo did for people but included blood-count
tra-expensive — $21,000 a therapy device for brain cancer, as she speaks on a phone at whose tumors had wors- problems, weakness, fa-
month. work in Aurora, Ill. ened or recurred after stan- tigue and skin irritation from
But in the study, more than Associated Press dard treatments. The U.S. the electrodes.
twice as many patients results Sunday at an Ameri- efit modest, because most Food and Drug Adminis- “The device is now impossi-
were alive five years after can Association for Can- patients still die within five tration approved it for that ble to ignore ... it absolutely
getting it, plus the usual cer Research meeting in years. situation. A second study, in is an advance,” said Dr.
chemotherapy, than those Washington. “You cannot ABOUT THE TREATMENT newly diagnosed patients, Andrew Lassman, brain tu-
given just the chemo — 13 argue with them — they’re The device, called Optune, was stopped in 2014 after mor chief at the Columbia
percent versus 5 percent. great results,” and unlikely is made by Novocure, about half of the 695 par- University Medical Center/
“It’s out of the box” in terms to be due to a placebo ef- based in Jersey, an island ticipants had been tracked New York-Presbyterian Hos-
of how cancer is usually fect, said one independent near England. It’s sold in for at least 18 months, be- pital. He consults for Novo-
treated, and many doctors expert, Dr. Antonio Chi- the U.S., Germany, Switzer- cause those using the de- cure, as do some doctors
don’t understand it or think occa, neurosurgery chief land and Japan for adults vice were living several running the study.
it can help, said Dr. Roger at Brigham and Women’s with an aggressive cancer months longer on average The latest National Com-
Stupp, a brain tumor expert Hospital in Boston. called glioblastoma mul- than the rest. prehensive Cancer Center
at Northwestern University Dr. George Demetri of the tiforme, and is used with The FDA expanded ap- guidelines include Optune
in Chicago. Dana-Farber Cancer Insti- chemo after surgery and proval but some doctors as an appropriate treat-
He led the company-spon- tute in Boston and a board radiation to try to keep were leery because the ment for brain tumors. It’s
sored study while previously member of the association these tumors from recur- device wasn’t compared also is being tested for pan-
at University Hospital Zurich hosting the conference, ring, as most do. with a sham treatment — creatic, ovarian and lung
in Switzerland, and gave agreed but called the ben- Patients cover their shaved everyone knew who was cancers; electrodes are
scalp with strips of elec- getting what. Study leaders worn on the belly or chest
trodes connected by wires say a sham was impracti- for those.
to a small generator kept cal, because patients feel THE PRICE
in a bag. They can wear heat when they get the A big issue is cost — roughly
a hat, go about their usual real thing, and many would $700 a day. Most U.S. insur-
lives, and are supposed refuse to shave their heads ers cover it but Medicare
to use the device at least every few days and use an does not and “we are
18 hours a day. It’s not an inconvenient device for paying,” said Novocure’s
electric current or radia- years if the treatment might chief executive, Bill Doyle.
tion, and they feel only mild be fake. “We’ve never refused a
heat. Some doctors said they patient regardless of insur-
It supposedly works by cre- would withhold judgment ance status.”q