- Smart bullets for lymphoma underused
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Smart bombs or smart bullets drugs which used only twice a week apart to-treat lymphoma, unlike other drugs which take months, directly bring radiation straight to cancerous cells. Despite research showing they work well, fewer than 10 percent of lymphoma patients actually use them. Specialists cite a complex list of reasons, including that most oncologists aren't licensed to administer the radioactive infusion and must send their patients to a nuclear-medicine doctor. There's also confusion about the risks of radiation, which studies suggest are minimal, and when the drugs work best early, not as a last-ditch therapy.The process is called radioimmunotherapy, harnessing homing device-like immune cells antibodies with a radioactive drug. The antibodies zero in on cancer and drop their payload, without as much damage to surrounding healthy tissue as chemotherapy can cause.
Source - May 2, 2007 - 3:49 AM | Posted in - Cancer






