Sheba participating in groundbreaking breast cancer study y

[Behind the Aegis]

Sheba Medical Center in Tel Hashomer is taking part in two studies in international breast cancer research programs that herald a breakthrough in treatment for women already in the fatal stages of breast cancer.

The studies focus on treatment administered to women whose cancer has spread from the breast to vital body organs. At this stage the disease is almost incurable and the traditional treatment - hormonal and biological - is intended to suppress the development of the cancerous metastases to reduce the pain.

One of these studies combines hormonal and biological treatment, which stops the disease for twice as long as the hormonal treatment alone (4.8 months compared to 2.4).

"This means that the condition of the women who received the combined treatment did not worsen but compared to the control group improved or stabilized for almost five months," said Dr. Bella Kaufman, head of Sheba's Oncology Division's breast cancer unit. Kaufman presented the first of the two studies on Tuesday in a conference in Istanbul, attended by 4,000 oncologists to mark Cancer Awareness Month.

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[OzarkDem]

1. Good news

Those are pretty good results. Next step will probably be to try the same combo in the adjuvant setting. There are a lot of studies going on of combining Herceptin w/ other drugs. Treatment is improving all the time.

I'm going to the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium in December, and there will probably be a lot of talk about these Herceptin studies there.