Cancer sufferer riddled with 26 tumours is 'effectively cured' by radical new treatment

A cancer sufferer who was on the brink of death and riddled with 26 tumours has been “effectively cured” by radical therapy which triggers the body to heal itself. The extraordinary case emerged as trials revealed a host of "unprecedented" advances using immunotherapy treatments at the world’s biggest cancer conference. In one study, those treated with the combined therapies had a 61 per cent higher chance of not dying or the disease progressing, compared to those given standard treatment. Five years ago Mike Chettle was diagnosed with bowel cancer, which spread to his liver, bones and abdomen, despite undergoing complex surgery and drug treatment.

By 2014, the cancer had spread so far that he was in constant pain, unable to even move his neck.
The cancer had spread to his bones and liver, and 26 tumours were detected in his abdomen alone.
“It was spreading fast,” he said. “I was limping. I couldn’t turn my neck. I was in a lot of pain.”
After repeated rounds of gruelling chemotherapy, Mr Chettle, from Virginia, exhausted all treatment options and was considering end of life care, when his oncologist suggested he take part in a radical trial at John Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Centre in Baltimore, Maryland using the immunotherapy drug pembrolizumab.

Within just eight weeks his symptoms subsided, doctors at the American Society for Clinical Oncology (ASCO) conference revealed.
And within a matter of months, the husband and father was well enough to be able to walk his daughter down the aisle.Two years on, he has seen a complete response to the treatment - almost all of his tumours have now disappeared.His doctors hope that soon they will be able to stop all treatment, and just keep him under surveillance, with regular scans.“I feel like I’ve been blessed to have good doctors who led me to where I am, to be in that trial,” Mr Chettle said.

The trial, led by Dr Luis Diaz, from Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center in Baltimore, Maryland, studies a genetic abnormality called mismatch repair (MMR) deficiency to see if those with it are more likely to respond to the immunotherapy drug pembrolizumab.“I probably wouldn’t be alive if he hadn’t sent me there,” Mr Chettle said. Scientists believe thousands more patients with terminal cancer could go into remission if immunotherapy drugs are used in new combinations.

The drugs enable the body's own immune system to hunt out and attack cancer cells. But only around a fifth of patients currently get a good response to the therapies, and experts are urgently looking for ways to drive up the number.Clinical trials are now starting to combine immunotherapy drugs instead of using them alone to increase their power.Adding immunotherapy to standard treatments is also producing positive results. In one new trial - described as "one of the most exciting presentations" of ASCO by its chief medical officer, Richard Schilsky - patients with multiple myeloma experienced dramatic results.

All 498 patients had cancer that had come back or had not responded to treatment. Half were given the immunotherapy drug Darzalax (daratumumab) in combination with two standard treatments bortezomib and dexamethasone, while half received the standard treatments on their own.The results showed that people given immunotherapy plus standard drugs had a 61 per cent reduced risk of dying or their cancer getting worse than those given standard treatments.


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/06/07/cancer-sufferer-riddled-with-26-tumours-is-effectively-cured-by/

Excellent news!

At last

It should be pointed out that these are mainstream medical professionals who have come up with an apparently brilliant new strategy for treating cancer, because that's what they do in medicine. They're not trying to insist that patients have chemo or suppress anything, and these new treatments will not be suppressed in favor of chemo.

Too true,  Ben !

YET ANOTHER  example of a cancer treatment 'breakthrough' which once again is the very opposite of that vapid b/s that VoD and hf was pushing previously...

This is another mode of medical intervention by oncologists -- using "immunotherapy" to help the body counteract cancerous cells -- and is, as such, the very antitheseis of the VoD/hf 'anti-oncology' crappola..

JUST another nail in VoD's coffin. And another argument to use against the VoD ('vit' C/give up oncology..') supporters on here.    

Ben_Reilly wrote:It should be pointed out that these are mainstream medical professionals who have come up with an apparently brilliant new strategy for treating cancer, because that's what they do in medicine. They're not trying to insist that patients have chemo or suppress anything, and these new treatments will not be suppressed in favor of chemo.

Unless.....you live in england, where the thrice damned organisation called NICE (which it aint) will decide they cost too much so hard luck......

Lord Foul wrote:

Ben_Reilly wrote:It should be pointed out that these are mainstream medical professionals who have come up with an apparently brilliant new strategy for treating cancer, because that's what they do in medicine. They're not trying to insist that patients have chemo or suppress anything, and these new treatments will not be suppressed in favor of chemo.

Unless.....you live in england, where the thrice damned organisation called NICE (which it aint) will decide they cost too much so hard luck......

Technology is always expensive when it's new. Time will tell.

Every member of NICE should be stood against the wall and shot

Lord Foul wrote:Every member of NICE should be stood against the wall and shot

Agreed.

Ben_Reilly wrote:It should be pointed out that these are mainstream medical professionals who have come up with an apparently brilliant new strategy for treating cancer, because that's what they do in medicine. They're not trying to insist that patients have chemo or suppress anything, and these new treatments will not be suppressed in favor of chemo.

Not while chemo makes so much money, no.