Modern medicine has cured a great many things that have (literally) plagued humanity for countless centuries. Yet cancer has been among the more stubborn medical holdouts, with most forms of it resisting cures to varying degrees.
So this news here is, well, kind of a big deal:
A recent drug trial administered to a handful of cancer patients had the surprising result of eliminating the disease in every participant involved.
The study was conducted on 18 rectal cancer patients at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in Manhattan and had a 100 percent success rate, according to a paper published Sunday in the New England Journal of Medicine.
"I believe this is the first time this has happened in the history of cancer," Dr. Luis A. Diaz Jr, the author of the paper, told the New York Times.
A round of applause for everyone over there at Sloan Kettering!
The treatment—the drug dostarlimab—was administered to each patient every three weeks for half a year. And it should be noted how preferable this drug is to other forms of colorectal cancer treatment:
Participants in the study were suffering from rectal cancer and were given alternatives such as chemotherapy or a difficult surgery that could potentially lead to bowel or urinary dysfunction. Some patients are required to use a colostomy bag due to treatment, the Times said.
At the conclusion of the drug trial, however, the patients were spared the agony of potentially damaging treatment when they showed no evidence of a tumor after receiving an MRI, rectal examination and biopsy.
Yeah, chemo and/or surgery... or chilling like this once a month for six months:
I think I'd opt for the drug.
Let's hope this is the auspicious start of a new era in cancer treatment!
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