Treatment

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Health Canada approves new targeted radioimmunotherapy

Health Canada has approved a new treatment that could offer hope for those who suffer from what is considered an incurable form of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) and who have failed on, or relapsed following, other treatments. Health Canada approved Bexxar(TM) (tositumomab and iodine I 131 tositumomab) therapy for the treatment of patients with CD20 positive relapsed or refractory, low grade, follicular, or transformed non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, including patients with rituxan-refractory NHL. News Release

Mantle Cell Lymphoma Patients Benefit from Vaccine and Immune-Depleting Therapy

A phase II clinical trial has found that some mantle cell lymphoma patients may have benefited from an experimental cancer vaccine and the novel dose-adjusted EPOCH chemotherapy regimen with the drug rituxan. Although 80 percent of the patients eventually relapsed after the treatments, they lived longer on average than others with mantle cell lymphoma. After nearly 4 years, 89 percent of the patients were alive; typically, half the patients with this disease die within 3 years.

Antibiotics maybe not enough to stop recurrent gastric lymphoma caused by Helicobacter pylori

Research led by Dr. Anne Mueller at Stanford Univ. School of Medicine demonstrates that successful eradication of Helicobacter may not prevent future aggressive gastric lymphoma since resting B cells are left behind. Mueller's paper, "The role of antigenic drive and tumor-infiltrating accessory cells in the pathogenesis of Helicobacter-induced MALT lymphoma," appears in the September issue of The American Journal of Pathology.

Over 140 Things you need to know about your BMT or SCT

The latest read is this book by Mark Patton, in his view The World’s Most Transplanted Person, having been transplanted five times!

The book contains over 140 invaluable tips to help transplant patients get through their procedures, it may help transplant candidates decide if BMTs or PBSCTs are their best treatment option, it lists dozens of sources of free material and information and it has a transplant Resource Directory with 100 organizations that offer support and encouragement.

Finding Paves Way for Vaccine Use in Some Lymphomas

Newswise — Researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center and the National Cancer Institute have found that an experimental vaccine can prime the immune system to help fight an aggressive form of lymphoma, even though prior therapy had eliminated virtually all of the B cells thought necessary to mount such a defense.

Survival of Patients with Follicular Lymphoma is Improving

Researchers from the University of Iowa have concluded that the survival of patients with follicular lymphoma (FL) has improved over the past 25 years. The details of this analysis were published in the August 1, 2005, issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology (abstract).

Genentech files for wider Rituxan use

Biotech companies Genentech Inc. and Biogen Idec Inc. and Swiss drug maker Roche said Wednesday that they filed a supplemental application with the Food and Drug Administration to expand the label for Rituxan to treat a larger population of people with non-Hodgkins lymphoma.

The companies said they have requested a priority review from the FDA. If granted, the agency would decide on the supplemental application within six months rather than the standard 10 months.

Doctors and Patients - Working Together to Make Medical Decisions

Several articles in the recent literature have suggested interesting patterns in health care decisions among groups of patients. One article describes how race and marital status were linked to the decisions a group of men diagnosed with localized prostate cancer made regarding the type of therapy to pursue - black and single men tended to choose radiation therapy, while white and married men tended to choose surgery. Another study shows that among women with locally advanced breast cancer, emotional, religious, and marital factors delayed their pursuit of treatment after diagnosis.

Eloxatin for Relapsed Non-Hodgkin

Researchers from the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center have reported that Eloxatin (generic name: oxaliplatin) is an effective treatment for patients with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL) who have failed multiple therapies. The details of this phase II study appeared in the August 15, 2005 issue of Cancer.

Study Suggests Radiation Therapy Does not Improve Survival for Patients with Early Stage Hodgkin's Lymphoma

The Journal of Clinical Oncology has recently published a study reporting that there is no survival benefit among patients treated with chemotherapy and radiation when compared to patients treated with chemotherapy alone.