New research has suggested that cancer patients could improve their chances of survival as a result of a treatment which makes use of platinum-based chemotherapy.

Scientists from Antwerp University in Belgium presented their findings among 4,000 cancer studies at the recent annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

Their tests found that patients with squamous-cell carcinoma of the head and neck may experience greater overall survival (OS) from first-line cetuximab in conjunction with platinum-fluorouracil chemotherapy.

The median OS for patients in the chemotherapy alone group was 7.4 months but this figure rose to 10.1 months for the chemotherapy plus cetuximab group.

This means that the combination of cetuximab - a monodonal antibody which blocks the epidermal growth factor receptor - with the platinum-based treatment increased patients' response by 16 per cent.

The researchers also noted that the experiment improved survival over chemotherapy alone for the very first time in relation to advanced non-small cell lung cancer, which is currently the top cause of cancer death in the US (170,000 per year).



Source:

Added to platinum-based chemotherapy, cetuximab improves lung cancer survival.(Clinical Practice) (27/09/08)
http://www.therapeuticsdaily.com/news/article.cfm?contentValue=1845543&contentType=sentryarticle&channelID=28

Cetuximab plus chemotherapy improved survival, response rate in head and neck cancer (22/09/08)
http://www.hemonctoday.com/article.aspx?rid=31387