Shrinking treatment for three types of cancer could make patients’ lives easier without compromising outcomes, doctors reported at the world’s largest cancer conference.
It’s part of a longer-term trend to study whether reducing surgery, chemotherapy and radiation treatments can help patients live longer and feel better. The latest studies looked at ovarian cancer, esophageal cancer and Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
Thirty years ago, cancer research was about doing more, not less.
In one gruesome example, a woman with advanced breast cancer was brought to the brink of death by high-dose chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant.
This treatment was less effective than chemotherapy and patients suffered.
Now, to optimize cancer treatment, researchers are asking, “Are all the treatments we’ve given so far necessary?”
“That’s a question that should be asked again and again,” said Dr. Tatjana Kolevska, medical director of Kaiser Permanente’s National Cancer Research Program, who was not involved in the study.
In many cases, improved medications mean less work.
“The good news is that cancer treatments are not only becoming more effective, but also better tolerated and with fewer short- and long-term complications,” said Dr. William G. Nelson of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, who was also not involved in the new study.
John Partipillo / The Tennessean / USA TODAY Network
The study, which shows this trend, was discussed at the American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting in Chicago over the weekend. Here are some key points:
Ovarian cancer
French researchers have found that it’s safer not to remove seemingly healthy lymph nodes during surgery for advanced ovarian cancer. The study compared the outcomes of 379 patients, half of whom had their lymph nodes removed and half of whom didn’t.
After nine years, there was no difference in how long the patients lived, and those who had the less demanding surgery had fewer complications, such as needing blood transfusions.
The study was funded by the French National Cancer Institute.
Esophageal cancer
The German study looked at 438 patients with esophageal cancer that could be treated with surgery.
Half received a common treatment plan that included chemotherapy and surgery on the esophagus (the tube that carries food from the throat to the stomach).
Half received another treatment, including radiation therapy. Both treatments are considered standard. Which treatment a patient receives depends on where they are treated.
After three years, 57 percent of patients who received chemotherapy and surgery were alive, compared with 51 percent of those who received chemotherapy, surgery, and radiation therapy. The study was funded by the German Research Foundation.
Hodgkin lymphoma
A comparison of two chemotherapy treatments for advanced Hodgkin lymphoma has found that the less-intensive treatment is more effective against the blood cancer and has fewer side effects.
After four years, 94% of those who received less aggressive chemotherapy had their disease kept from progressing, compared with 91% of those who received more aggressive treatment.
The trial, which involved 1,482 people from nine countries – Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Australia and New Zealand – was funded by Takeda Oncology, which makes one of the drugs used in the milder chemotherapy studied.
