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(Ivanhoe Broadcast News) -- When the initial treatment for testicular cancer fails, men have a second chance to beat the disease, according to a new study.
Researchers from Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis report a combination of high-dose chemotherapy and stem cell transplants can effectively cure men who have had a testicular cancer relapse.
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About 7,920 men will learn they have testicular cancer this year, according to The American Cancer Society. An estimated 380 men will die of the disease, which typically strikes men in their 20s. Although it is one of the most easily treated cancers, a small percentage will suffer a relapse.
Researchers studied the outcomes of 184 men with testicular cancer that had spread. Study authors write the disease is curable when patients are given carboplatin (Paraplatin) chemo at five-times the level given to men initially treated for testicular cancer. Because the high-dose chemo wipes out blood cells, doctors replenish the patient's immune system using stem cells harvested from the patient before the initial chemotherapy infusion. The process is repeated in a few weeks.
Of the 184 patients in the study, 116 had complete remission of their cancer four years after treatment.
"The message for patients is that, through medicine, diligence and new technologies, there is hope," lead study author Lawrence Einhorn, M.D., was quoted as saying.
This article was reported by Ivanhoe.com, which offers Medical Alerts by e-mail every day of the week. To subscribe, click on: http://www.ivanhoe.com/newsalert/.
SOURCE: The New England Journal of Medicine, 2007;357:340-348
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