New Treatments

New Ways of Giving Chemotherapy: Dose Density

Doctors and researchers at Seattle Cancer Care Alliance are working to find new and more effective chemotherapy drugs and combinations of drugs. In addition, they are studying the way in which the drugs are given, to find more effective treatments for breast cancer.

One change in the way chemotherapy is given, which is being studied by SCCA oncologists, is related to dose density. Rresearchers are looking at the frequency of chemotherapy treatments, as well as the size of the dose, to find the most effective combination for killing cancer cells.

They have found that some chemotherapy drugs, which normally are given to breast cancer patients once every three weeks, are more effective if they are given more often in smaller doses. In addition, side effects such as nausea, vomiting, mouth sores, and fatigue are less troubling with the smaller dose.

A clinical trial of the drugs Adriamycin and Cytoxan, in which the Adriamycin is given weekly and the Cytoxan given daily, is on-going at SCCA. This clinical trial is not randomized, although SCCA researchers will soon be participating in a randomized clinical trial to test these changes in the way the drugs are given.

Talk to your doctor to learn more and to see if you qualify for this clinical trial.

For more on dose density, read an interview that appeared on HealthTalk. Translating Breast Cancer Laboratory Research to the Bedside

Also visit the NCI: "Dose Dense" Chemotherapy Improves Survival in Breast Cancer Patients Compared to Conventional Chemotherapy

 

For more information about new treatments:

• Donut mastopexy
• Hormonal therapy
• Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy
• Herceptin

August 2007