I'm Blushing....
Mort's last entry was much too flattering. He is just as indefatigable as I am! And he has the added gift of conveying his ideas in two sentences while it takes me twenty!
He and I do what we do because we were the beneficiaries of an effective treatment - radioimmunotherapy. In my case, at least, it is highly doubtful that I would be alive today had RIT not become available and had I not had a great doctor who never hesitated to use it.
Both Mort and I are deeply saddened by the fact that RIT has been so underutilized. Thousands of patients are taking more invasive and possibly less effective treatments when they could be taking a proven, one-week treatment.
At the ASH (American Society of Hematologists) meeting last December, there was an analysis presented which can be seen at http://www.abstracts2view.com/hem4806/view.php?nu=HEM06L1_4811. If you can't click over, following is the summary:
Several researchers analyzed trials performed between 2001 and 2006 on 2,421 previously untreated follicular NHL patients. The percentage of patients who achieved complete response rates are shown with various therapies (remember, these drugs were used as the first treatment):
37% with Chemo (including several types without the addition of fludarabine)
53% with Rituxan plus Chemo (including several types without the addition of fludarabine)
68% with Fludarabine
79% with RIT
The researchers stated: "The analysis suggests that a higher CRR (Complete Response Rate) is correlated with a lower hazard of disease progression." In other words, the achievement of complete response predicts a longer, more durable remission.
There is an impressive body of data which supports these findings - that RIT is more effective when used earlier in treatment rather than after several types of chemotherapy have failed. And that is the message Mort and I want to spread to the thousands of patients who might benefit from it.
And oops - I think I wrote even more than 20 sentences!
Betsy