‘Out-Of-The-Box’ Brain Tumor Treatment Improves Survival Rates For First Time In Over A Decade
The device creates low intensity, alternating electric fields aimed at disrupting cell division, which makes the cells die. Because cancer cells divide often, and normal adult brain cells do not, this in theory mostly harms the disease and not the patient. Some experts are skeptical about the treatment, though.
The Associated Press:
A 'Sci-Fi' Cancer Therapy Fights Brain Tumors, Study Finds
It sounds like science fiction, but a cap-like device that makes electric fields to fight cancer improved survival for the first time in more than a decade for people with deadly brain tumors, final results of a large study suggest. Many doctors are skeptical of the therapy, called tumor treating fields, and it's not a cure. It's also ultra-expensive — $21,000 a month. (4/2)
The Washington Post:
Brain Cancer Survival Improves With Novel Electrical Device, Data Suggest
A wearable medical device that delivers electrical fields through the scalp helped to extend the survival of patients with lethal brain tumors, according to data presented Sunday. In a study involving major medical centers in the United States and abroad, the novel treatment was used to administer alternating, low-intensity “tumor-treating fields” to newly diagnosed glioblastoma patients who also were getting chemotherapy. Such electrical fields may block the division of cancer cells and cause their demise, according to Roger Stupp, the study's lead investigator and a neuro-oncologist at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. (McGinley, 4/2)