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October 09, 2007

Adriamycin and Friends

Came across an interesting AP article today talking about a chemotherapy drug used to treat breast cancer (among others) and its adverse effect on the heart:

Drugs called anthracyclines are a breast chemo staple despite a well-known risk: They weaken some women's hearts. What's new is research suggesting the drugs work no better than safer alternatives for most women.

Anyone who has read a lot of journal articles on cancer will note this interesting shift in focus. Many cancers can now be successfully treated (i.e. complete response obtained with low rate of recurrence) and as a result the long-term toxic properties of chemotherapy drugs actually have time to manifest.

Continue reading "Adriamycin and Friends"

Posted by eerie at 06:45 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
Filed Under: Random Notes