| Japanese, US lung cancer victims studied
ANN ARBOR, Mich., June 4 (UPI) -- A U.S. study has determined why lung cancer drugs work better in Japanese patients than they do in U.S. lung cancer patients. A groundbreaking 2006 international study found a group of Japanese patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer survived longer -- and had a higher rate of side effects -- than U.S. patients with the same diagnosis, when both groups were given two well-known drugs for the disease. Now, a U.S. follow-up study suggests the reasons appear to lie in subtle variations in certain genes that govern how the body metabolizes chemotherapy drugs. The discovery that Japanese and U.S. patients, matched in age, gender and other respects, had differences in key metabolism-related genes is the latest result from a seven-year collaboration between the Southwest Oncology Group of Ann Arbor, Mich., and two clinical trials groups in Japan.
Health notes
The Harford County Chapter of the Autism Society of America will meet at 7 p.m. tomorrow at the McFaul Center, 525 West MacPhail Road, Bel Air. Parents, teachers and others affected by autism are welcome. Information: 410-836-7177, Ext. 617, or www.harfordcountyautismsociety.com. .
Georgetown's cancer killing robot will expand use to anywhere in ...
Georgetown University Hospital was the first center on the East Coast and the 6th in the nation to get the CyberKnife in 2002. Now, with the second highest caseload volume in the United States, Georgetown's world renowned team will be the first on the East Coast to start using a second machine in mid-July 2007. “The CyberKnife really exceeded our expectations, both in its effectiveness and in how many cancers we can treat with it," says Gregory Gagnon, MD, CyberKnife program director. When we first got the machine five years ago, it was used to treat “inoperable" tumors of the head neck and spine. Thanks to the addition of the Synchrony software we added in 2004 and advances in the technology itself, we are treating cancers of the lung, liver and pancreas. This second machine will help us go beyond that to begin treating cancers of the breast and prostate as well." CyberKnife's robot uses a crossfire technique to deliver as many as 1400 highly pinpointed and concentrated beams of radiation, at virtually any angle, to the patient's tumor.
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