New treatments extend brain cancer survival a bit

By Will Dunham

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Malignant brain tumors remain one of the deadliest types of cancer, but new treatments have extended the lives of patients a bit in the past decade, and researchers say further advances may be on the horizon.

This week's diagnosis of Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Edward Kennedy, a leading U.S. political figure for half a century, with a dangerous tumor called a glioma has focused international attention on brain cancer.

"There have been some advances in the treatment of this disease. I'm impatient for more. And I really feel that the advances we've had have been small, baby steps," Dr. Otis Brawley, chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society, said in a telephone interview on Wednesday.

For patients diagnosed with a glioblastoma -- an especially perilous tumor -- average survival time after diagnosis is 6 to 12 months, or 6 months without treatment.

Dr. Victor Perry, a neurosurgeon at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, said these treatments generally have added weeks or months, not years, to the lives of patients with the most serious forms of brain cancer.

Experts say standard treatment may involve six weeks of relatively high-dose radiation coupled with a chemotherapy drug called temozolomide, sold by Schering-Plough Corp. under the brand name Temodar.

Patients then get Temodar for six months or more, or until the tumor ceases to respond.

Brawley expressed hope that Genentech Inc's drug Avastin soon may be a valuable addition to brain cancer treatment.  Continued...