The size of a UK man’s “aggressive” brain tumor reduced by “50%” after the first treatment of its kind for a type of cancer that usually kills patients within 18 months.
The experimental test was tested on 62-year-old engineer Paul Reed, who was diagnosed with glioblastoma – a cancer that kills most patients within a year and a half – in December 2023.
To begin the experimental treatment, which is taking place at University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (UCLH), doctors asked surgeons to remove as much of her tumor as possible and then implant a small device, called an Omaya, just beneath her skull. Is called reservoir. According to BBC.
After the device is implanted, doctors will inject low levels of radioactivity directly into the tumor once a week for six weeks. The purpose of this procedure was to kill cancer cells while leaving healthy tissue harmless.
The findings of the trial were released on Tuesday and they had surprising results.
Brain scans revealed that Reid’s tumor “reduced 50% in size” at the end of six weeks of treatment.
“We just passed [Paul’s] The results of the scans with them and the scans at the end of their treatment showed a reduction in the tumour, which is really quite remarkable for someone whose tumor is so aggressive,” said Dr Paul Mulholland, UCLH consultant medical oncologist and principal investigator. , who designed the trial.
“This trial was a lifeline, because the statistics showed my chances of survival were a year or less,” Reid said. In a statement from UCLH.
No side effects were reported by Reed other than feeling “a little more tired.”
In the early days, Reid’s symptoms began with a headache during a work trip to South Korea and the pain continued when he returned to his small town just north of London. Two weeks later his face drooped to one side and he was diagnosed with glioblastoma.
Soon after, his doctors tried to remove as much of the tumor as possible and he then had to undergo radiotherapy and chemotherapy, but the treatment was not successful as the tumor was growing again in July.
He was offered a readout of the CITADEL-123 trial at UCLH and was “happy to explore anything” that would treat his condition.
Reid continued, “We’re all dealt a card and you don’t know which card you’re going to get.”
Before seeing remarkable results, he said, “It would be wonderful if this treatment helps me and if not, then no…it may benefit someone else down the road.”
The medical team has begun the same process for a second patient and they plan to eventually treat 40 patients in Phase 1 of the trial.
“I am very pleased that this clinical trial is now open. This is potentially a very powerful approach and I am already extremely pleased with the results from the first patient,” said Dr. Mulholland.
