( Chemotherapy is a standard regimen in m...)A Fresh Alternative to Painful Chemotherapy Developed in UK,Health

Chemotherapy is a standard regimen in most cancer treatments. Since it is a very painful process, continuous attempts are made to replace it with something more comfortable for the patient.

Now researchers say that LHRH agonists like the drug Zoladex switch off the ovary and stop the production of a female hormone that encourages some tumours to grow.

An agonist achieves a normal action, often mimicking the action of a naturally occurring substance.

Luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone is a naturally occurring hormone that controls sex hormones in both men and women. Thus, an LHRH agonist serves in a manner similar to LHRH to control the same sex hormones.

Four London centres found that even when used alone, the chemical worked as well as conventional chemotherapy in some cases, the Lancet journal said.

Breast cancer charities say that younger women might benefit the most.

Many types of breast cancer are sensitive to hormones produced naturally by a woman, including the sex hormone oestrogen, and can grow faster if a woman is producing them. The London researchers, from the Cancer Research UK Centre for Epidemiology, the Wolfson Institute for Preventive Medicine, and Queen Mary's School of Medicine and Dentistry, combined the results of 16 other research projects into LHRH agonists and breast cancer.

When all the different results are added together, the overall findings offer a more reliable indicator as to how well the treatment works.

They found that pre-menopausal women given LHRH agonists did as well as those given standard chemotherapy.

When the two treatments were given together, the women did even better - with cancer 13% less likely to come back.

As expected, LHRH agonists were effective only where a tumour was proven to be sensitive to oestrogen.

The study authors said that the results proved th
'"/>




Page: 1 2
Related medicine news :

1. Fresh approach to TB treatment
2. Fresh warnings to doctors regarding abortion pill
3. Fresh Cases of Bird-Flu Prepares the Ground for More Chicken Martyrs
4. Fresh Bird Flu Cases Spotted In Southern Russia
5. Pakistan Scared By Fresh Bird Flu Case
6. Fresh Polio Cases Reported In Uttar Pradesh
7. Nothing Can Equate Fresh Vegetables and Fruits
8. Fresh Outbreak Of Bird Flu In Nigeria
9. Foreign Fresher Students Offered Scholarship By Fudan
10. Fresh bird flu vaccines made in China
11. Freshness Dating? Researchers Express Doubts