New breast cancer treatment offers help for patients with large tumours

A new treatment could offer hope for breast cancer patients whose tumours remain too large to remove via surgery despite undergoing chemotheraphy.

Taking a drug called Sunitinib one week before chemotherapy helps shrink the tumours so they get a better shot at going under the knife safely if the need arises, doctors at the National University Cancer Institute have found.

Preliminary results of 24 patients show that the newly devised method shrunk tumours by one quarter after just one cycle of chemotherapy.

In contrast, patients who took the only-chemotherapy route saw minimal tumour reduction after the first cycle. Typically, one has to complete four cycles.