login
Become a member
Quick Registration
Full Registration Benefits -
Free Homepages for Doctors
Free Homepages for Hospitals
Free Homepages for Medical Conference
Free Homepages for NGO's
Personal Health Record Creation
Access to all Medical Slides
Access to all Jobs & Products Sale
Chronic Myeloid Leukemia Yet to be Defeated
Likening the journey to find a cure for chronic myeloid leukemia as a marathon, cancer expert Dr. Jorge Cortes, University of Texas, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas, writes, "The past half century has been an extraordinary run that has us on an excellent pace to not only complete the race to a cure, but to do so in record time."
Developments in treatments have been significant, with a five-year survival rate of 90% today compared with a median survival rate of three to five years in the 1960s.
"Despite this progress, many challenges remain that merit a concerted effort from researchers, health care providers, regulatory authorities, third party payers and the patients themselves," writes Dr. Cortes. "Our goal should be to eliminate the disease in all patients."
The use of the drug imatinib has been a key weapon in the arsenal against the disease, although only 60% of patients have a decent outcome; people can be resistant to the drug or develop resistance. Other second-line drugs work in about 50% of the patients in whom imatinib is not effective, but at least 10%-15% of them will lose their response to the treatment over time.
Dr. Cortes states that doctors need to ensure adherence to treatments, that more research into other therapies is still necessary and that health care professionals must stay focused on the long term.
"Until all patients with chronic myeloid leukemia can have an optimal quality of life while fighting this disease, our marathon is not over," concludes Dr. Cortes.
Source-Eurekalert
|
|
More News on: Leukemia, Chronic Myeloid Leukemia, Acute Myeloid Leukemia, Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, Multiple Myeloma, Bone Marrow Transplantation
 Comment & Contribute
|
Medwonders Health Network
- Health News Index
|
|
- News Quick Links
 |
Chronic Myeloid Leukemia
Complete Medindia Resources
|
| News Categories: |
| » | Research: Bright Colored Chips can Cut Consumption by Half |
| » | Olympic Athlete's Body Via the 80-10-10 Raw Vegan Diet |
| » | Importance of Canned Foods To Help Tackle IOM Weight Of The Nation Recommendations, Highlights Study |
| » | US Rules Pomegranate Juice Claims Deceptive |
| » | Reducing Entrée Size Could Increase Fruit and Vegetable Intake in Children |
| More Diet News | |
|
