New treatment for tumours offers hope to breast cancer patients
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A woman having a mammogram screening during a 2011's programme roadshow at Toa Payoh Hub Atrium on May 22, 2011. A new treatment regime is offering a glimmer of hope for breast cancer patients who cannot go for life-saving surgery as their tumours are too large to remove. -- ST PHOTO: CHEW SENG KIM
A new treatment regime is offering a glimmer of hope for breast cancer patients who cannot go for life-saving surgery as their tumours are too large to remove.
Taking a drug one week before chemotherapy helps to shrink their tumours, so they get a better shot at going under the knife safely, doctors at National University Cancer Institute found.
Preliminary results of 24 patients show that the newly devised method shrunk tumours by 24 per cent after just one cycle of chemotherapy. Usually, one has to complete four cycles.
In contrast, patients who only went for chemotherapy saw tumours grew by 26 per cent after completing one out of four cycles.
