Controlling Brain Tumors... By Taking A Pill?

Main Category: Cancer / Oncology
Also Included In: Neurology / Neuroscience
Article Date: 03 Apr 2008 - 3:00 PDT

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Treating cancer often involves the use of high-tech equipment or spending hours at a time in the hospital. Now a new approach to controlling brain tumors is remarkably simple. For some patients, it's as easy as taking a pill.

Hockey players have a reputation for being tough, but few have gone through what Holly Archer has. Holly's been practicing and playing on her adult hockey team, while battling a brain tumor.

"My tumor was a glioblastoma multiform, which is a GBM, in short. Essentially when it was removed, it was the size of an orange," says Holly.

Even after taking her tumor out, doctors knew they had to do more. So, like most other patients, they put Holly on a combination of chemotherapy and radiation.

"People have tried these kinds of chemo-radiation combo treatments for decades. It's never worked - until now," says Dr. Herbert Newton, an oncologist at the James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute at Ohio State University.

What made the difference for Holly was something as simple as taking a pill. It's a chemotherapy pill called temozolomide. After taking it for two years, Holly has no signs of cancer. Dr. Newton says that's remarkable when you consider how deadly these brain tumors can be. But in one study, doctors were able to use this pill to make a dramatic difference.

"They were able to more than double the two-year survivor rate. The two-year survival rate went from roughly 10% to 26%," says Newton. Most doctors will give patients the pill for six months as follow-up treatment. Newton gave it to Holly for two years. Now, with her tumor in check, Holly's back on the ice - redefining just how tough and determined hockey players can truly be.

Not only are the pills convenient for patients to take, but doctors say the side effects are much more tolerable than traditional therapy. Holly goes back to the doctor every 4 months for a brain scan. So far, there are no signs of her tumor coming back.

Ohio State University