Can Chemotherapy Kill You?
Ten Scientific StudiesHere, we will consider ten scientific studies that show that chemotherapy quickly kills a certain percentage of patients who receive it. In most studies that number is in...
Chemotherapy
Metronomic Chemo Offers Hope in Esophageal Cancer
Metronomic chemotherapy is being used in the U.S. with some preliminary success in difficult-to-treat cancers. Nick Chen, MD, Ph.D., an oncologist who serves as medical director of the Seattle...
The Goal of a New Drug
Help Cure the Patient of CancerFirst, we must clarify the goal of any new cancer therapy. Most people would say that the goal is to help cure the patient of cancer. But a long time ago, Memorial...
When Chemo Kills: The Inside Story
Of course you know that cancer chemotherapy can make you lose your hair. Fingers and toes may become painful or numb. Your immune system, especially the white blood cells, may be destroyed. But...
Pancreatic Cancer FOLFIRINOX vs Gemzar (Gemcitabine)
Quest for Prolonging Life While chemotherapy is not particularly effective in advanced pancreatic cancer, researchers continue to try to eke out some extra months of survival for such patients...
FDA Panel Approves New Drug for Lymphoma
FDA Panel Approves New Drug for Lymphoma A key panel of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has voted to recommend accelerated approval for the injectable drug brentuximab vedotin (Adcetris®)....
Drugs Approved for Lung Cancer
Statistical Improvement?The past 40 years have certainly seen the introduction of numerous anticancer agents for lung cancer. In the past decade and a half, the Food and Drug...
Can Chemotherapy Destroy Circulating Tumor Cells (CTCs)?
A Crucial QuestionA CTC is a ‘Circulating Tumor Cell’. There is a crucial question of whether chemotherapy can destroy CTCs. Breast cancerIn a big study of women with breast cancer, CTCs were...
Chemotherapy and Lung Cancer
Study Shows Negative Results Adding chemotherapy to radiation therapy does not prolong survival in operable, non-small-cell lung cancer, according to a large, randomized study published in the...
SEF Chemotherapy Mesna Mesnex
Not a Common View of ChemotherapySEF or Side Effect Free Chemotherapy® is a proposed treatment from Kenneth Matsumura, MD, of the Berkeley Institute International, in Berkeley, California. They...
Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) Specialists
List of AML Specialists The best way to find a specialist who treats acute myeloid leukemia (AML)—other than the time-tested method of word of mouth— is to consult the U.S.News.com website....
Oxaliplatin 3-Month Regimen
Many oncologists are now offering a 3-month regimen of oxaliplatin (OX) as a compromise, especially when OX is combined with oral capecitabine (Xeloda®, the oral prodrug form of 5-FU). This cuts...
Some Problems with Chemotherapy
Weighing the Benefits Many people criticize chemotherapy for its deficiencies. For instance, it is common knowledge that chemo can cause serious adverse effects, some of which oncologists cannot...
Chemo for Life?
Long Term Treatments There is an emerging trend in oncology to keep patients on anticancer drugs for longer periods, even years at a stretch. This concept was given support from two studies...
Chronobiology
Greater Benefit and Lower Risk The New York Times has discovered chronobiology, including chronomodulated chemotherapy. The science writer Olivia Judson, Ph.D., in the course of a column on...
A Surprising Survey about Chemo for Breast Cancer
Is Chemo Beneficial?In the Summer of 2001, there was an odd study of women with breast cancer who were receiving chemotherapy. They were asked whether they would still take chemotherapy even if...
Trifluridine and Tipiracil (Lonsurf®) for Metastatic Colorectal Cancer
The combination of trifluridine and tipiracil has been given the unusual name Lonsurf® (from Taiho Oncology). The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a tablet combining these two...
Bazell Report on Anthracycline-Based Chemotherapy
An Outspoken CriticI read with interest a recent news report by Robert Bazell, NBC’s chief science and health correspondent. Bear in mind that Bazell has written a book on the development of the...
Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) and Treatment
Protecting Patients a PriorityIn order to carry off a successful treatment, it is sometimes necessary to hospitalize the patient during the period of “pancytopenia.” This is a condition in which...
HIPEC with Mitomycin and Oncothermia for Endometrial and Gynecologic Cancer
One treatment that has been used for stage IV endometrial cancer is heated intraperitoneal chemotherapy or HIPEC. According to French authors:“Seven patients are alive, four of them without...
Surrogate Markers
A Problem in OncologyOne of the most fundamental and problematic issues in oncology is that of so-called surrogate markers. “Local-regional control” of a tumor is basically a “surrogate marker”...
Taofeek Owonikoko, MD, PhD on Lung and Thyroid Cancers and Early Phase Drug Development
Dr. Taofeek Owonikoko is a Professor and Vice Chair for Faculty Development in the Department of Hematology and Medical Oncology at Emory University, Atlanta. He is also a Georgia Research...
The Chemotherapy Concession Continues
The Side Hustle A recent study provided evidence that some oncologists prescribe chemotherapy based on their financial reward rather than the medical needs of their patients. This is a...