Recent
News Coverage:
The following is an excerpt from the Portland, Oregon daily newspaper,
the Oregonian, July 28, 2004. The full article, "Trials will
test drugs to keep chemo from damaging ears," was
written by Andy Dworkin.
"Your hearing or your life?
That painful choice faces many patients whose cancer is best treated
with platinum-containing chemotherapy drugs, which can permanently
damage the ears. That threat is bigger for young cancer patients
still learning to speak and understand their world.
"You're talking about a third of all children with cancer having
hearing loss," said Dr. Edward Neuwelt, a neurosurgeon at Oregon
Health & Science University and the Portland Veteran's Affairs Medical
Center.
But by adapting antidotes to cyanide and Tylenol poisoning, Neuwelt
and colleagues think they can preserve patients' hearing while aggressively
treating tumors. The two drugs, poised to enter separate human trials,
also may let doctors give some patients larger chemotherapy doses
while limiting other side effects, such as bruising or kidney problems.
The trick is determining how to protect the healthy body and not
interfere with the chemotherapy. The same drugs that block the toxic
effects on ears can hamper the tumor-fighting power of cisplatin
and carboplatin, platinum-based chemotherapy drugs. Those are widely
used against cancers of the liver, reproductive system, bones, brain
and nerve cells.
.....Poison antidotes may be the answer -- one discovered by the
husband of a cancer patient. In 1993, Neuwelt gave chemotherapy to
Abbie Ziffren, a George Washington University religion professor
who was dealing with a brain tumor. The treatment extended Ziffren's
life another three years, said her husband, David Scheim. It also
damaged her hearing.
Scheim turned to the Internet for answers and found a study that
sought to battle chemo-related anemia and kidney damage with sodium
thiosulfate, or STS, an antidote to cyanide poisoning. Scheim passed
the idea on to Neuwelt.
Neuwelt said researchers think the STS can prevent half the expected
cases of hearing loss. Doctors also will check whether it moderates
the anemia and kidney damage chemotherapy can cause. And they will
monitor for high sodium and blood-pressure levels, which high STS
doses may cause.
The study will involve about 270 cancer patients, aged 1 to 21,
being treated at medical centers in the Children's Oncology Group,
which includes most big medical centers.
Meanwhile, the OHSU team is testing another ear-saving medicine
called N-acetylcysteine, or NAC, now used to treat Tylenol overdoses.
They just published one study, in the journal Hearing Research, showing
that NAC protects the hearing of rats getting cisplatin. Now they
are starting the earliest human trials, checking to see how much
NAC people can tolerate without severe side effects. Eventually,
Neuwelt said, doctors may combine NAC and STS to protect patients
from chemotherapy."
©2004
Oregonian Publishing Co. All rights reserved. Used with permission
of The Oregonian.
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