Giving chemotherapy in the morning can extend survival of glioblastoma patients
An aggressive type of brain cancer, glioblastoma has no cure. Patients survive an average of 15 months after diagnosis, with fewer than 10% of patients surviving longer than five years. While researchers are investigating potential new therapies via ongoing clinical trials, a new study from Washington University in St. Louis suggests that a minor adjustment to the current standard treatment -; giving chemotherapy in the morning rather than the evening -; could add a few months to patients survival.
The study appears online in the journal Neuro-Oncology Advances.
Average overall survival for all patients in the study was about 15 months after diagnosis. Those receiving the chemotherapy drug temozolomide in the morning had an average overall survival of about 17 months post diagnosis, compared with an average overall survival of about 13½ months for those taking the drug in the evening, a statistically
MSK researchers report an underlying cause of COVID brain
One of the dozens of unusual symptoms that have emerged in COVID-19 patients is a condition that s informally called COVID brain or brain fog. It s characterized by confusion, headaches, and loss of short-term memory. In severe cases, it can lead to psychosis and even seizures. It usually emerges weeks after someone first becomes sick with COVID-19.
In the February 8, 2021, issue of the journal
Cancer Cell, a multidisciplinary team from Memorial Sloan Kettering reports an underlying cause of COVID brain: the presence of inflammatory molecules in the liquid surrounding the brain and spinal cord (called the cerebrospinal fluid). The findings suggest that anti-inflammatory drugs, such as steroids, may be useful for treating the condition, but more research is needed.
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New drug reduces tumor volume and pain in patients with neurofibromatosis type 1
Based on preclinical studies of an investigational drug to treat peripheral nerve tumors, researchers at Children s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) as part of the Neurofibromatosis Clinical Trials Consortium have shown that the drug, cabozantinib, reduces tumor volume and pain in patients with the genetic disorder neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1).
The results of the Phase 2 clinical trial, co-chaired by Michael J. Fisher, MD at CHOP, were published recently in
Nature Medicine. This is the second class of drugs to demonstrate a very promising response rate for NF1 patients with these tumors, said first author Fisher, Chief of the Section of Neuro-Oncology and Director of the Neurofibromatosis Program at CHOP, and Group Chair for the NF Clinical Trials Consortium, which includes 25 sites developing innovative biologically-based clinical trials for complications of NF.