Fwd: PC and glue / radiation treatment

December 6, 1999

I received this from and wanted to pass it along to everyone. RE:

" GLUE " used for pancreatic cancer.

A further update, as I have learned more about this treatment this morning:

I just talked with the folks over at Dr. Order's office at Center for

Molecular Medicine http://www.molecularoncology.com/ (516-222-2727) . They

clarified the information that was broadcast about their use of high dosage

radiation in conjunction with a biologic " glue " that has been profiled on a

number of T.V. shows. First, as they explained, the biologic " glue " is

injected into the tumor and forms a kind of receptacle so that when the

radiation is then injected, in very high doses up to 2,000,000 rads, the

radiation is confined solely to the tumor. By using this method, they have

been able to put in these high doses without any side affects (including,

they tell me, no damage to the pancreas' function).The 98% success level

that they mentioned in the story was not 98% survival for those pancreatic

patients treated, but that in their study so far (they are doing a phase II

trial now), 98% of the time they were able to kill the localize tumor in the

pancreas. Unfortunately, since pancreatic cancer is usually diagnosed so

late, killing this primary tumor does not necessarily impact on a patients

survival. But the results they have reported so far are, I believe, very

interesting - approximately 30% of patients alive at one year and there are

several long-term survivors. Median survival statistics are not yet

available.This treatment is available to pancreatic cancer patients

currently, even while the clinical trial is in porgies. Thus, for those

interested, if they don't qualify for the clinical trial, they can still get

the treatment at his clinic (they tell me pancreatic patients, due to the

nature of the disease, begin treatment within a couple of days of coming to

the clinic). Note: ). Infusional brachytherapy using P32, the actual name of

this treatment, is FDA approved and reimbursed by Medicare.In addition, they

told me that there are only 4 centers in the USA participating in this

clinical trial: our facility here on Long Island, NY (Drs. Order and Court);

SUNY at Stony Brook (Dr. Meek); Medical College of Ohio (Dr. Ralph

Dobelbower) and the South Fulton Medical Center in Atlanta (Dr.

Stillwagon). I don't know if these centers or physicians offer this

treatment for patients in general like Dr. Order does or not.

Re: PC and " glue " / radiation treatment

>

> ank you very much. I apprecate your information even though it is a

> dissappointment. We all would like to hear that the TV hype has

substance.

>

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