New Drug Offers Hope for Bone Marrow Cancer Patients

A therapeutic drug has been found to improve outcomes and survival rates for patients with a serious type of bone marrow cancer.

In a clinical trial by researchers, patients with newly diagnosed myeloma were treated with a drug called lenalidomide.

The results showed an improvement for those who received lenalidomide drug, compared to those not receiving it.

This is a major breakthrough as it shows that the long-term use of lenalidomide significantly improves the time myeloma patients stay in remission after initial therapy. 

Myeloma is a cancer of the plasma cells and it can affect several areas of the body, such as the spine, skull, pelvis and ribs. Current treatment usually involves chemotherapy and a stem-cell transplant.

It is a huge step and, importantly, identifies that for younger patients lenalidomide improves their overall survival for this difficult-to-treat bone marrow cancer. Our research highlights that lenalidomide should be considered for newly diagnosed patients following stem-cell transplantation. 

As part of the study, a total of 1,137 newly diagnosed patients were randomly assigned to lenalidomide maintenance therapy and 834 patients to observation - this was after they completed their initial treatment.

The results show that lenalidomide can prolong the average remission time by more than two years in younger patients and by well over a year in older, less fit patients.

It reduced the risk of progression or death by more than 50 per cent in both groups.

THIS IS ONLY FOR INFORMATION, ALWAYS CONSULT YOU PHYSICIAN BEFORE HAVING ANY PARTICULAR FOOD/ MEDICATION/EXERCISE/OTHER REMEDIES.                          PS- THOSE INTERESTED IN RECIPES ARE FREE TO  VIEW MY BLOG-                                                                                          https://gseasyrecipes.blogspot.com/                                                                                                                                                                             FOR INFO ABOUT KNEE REPLACEMENT, YOU CAN VIEW MY BLOG-                                                  
  https:// kneereplacement-stickclub.blogspot.com/                                                                                  
     FOR CROCHET DESIGNS                                                                                                                                                                                                                      https://gscrochetdesigns.blogspot.com

MRI can detect bone marrow cancer

Bone marrow cancer can be identified effectively using Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), according to a new study which may change the way the disease is diagnosed.
Bone marrow cancer (myelofibrosis) is a slow evolving condition hallmarked by increased myeloid cells and in the case of primary myelofibrosis, with an excessive number of large bone marrow cells called megakaryocytes.
The pathology also is characterised by structural abnormality of the bone marrow matrix, which at end-stage manifests in excessive deposition of reticulin fibers and cross-linked collagen in the bone marrow, suppression of normal blood cell development and bone marrow failure.
Currently the diagnosis is made through an invasive bone marrow biopsy and histophatology to assess cellularity and reticulin deposition in the marrow.
Researchers at Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) in the US designed and tested whether a T2-weighted MRI, one of the basic pulse sequences in MRI, could detect bone marrow fibrosis in an experimental model.
The group was able to show that an MRI could detect a pre-fibrotic state of the disease with a clear bright signal, as well as progressive myelofibrosis.
The researchers proposed that the abundance of large megakaryocytes contribute to the signal, since in T2-weighted MR-images, increased water/proton content, as in increased cellularity, yield high (bright) MR-signal intensity. 
 This is the first study to evaluate a T2-weighted MRI in an experimental model of myelofibrosis with examination of potential sources of the MRI signal, researchers said.


"Our study provides proof-of-concept that this non-invasive modality can detect pre-fibrotic stages of the disease," said Katya Ravid, professor at BUSM.

"It is intriguing to speculate that future pre-biopsy MRI of the human pathology might guide in some cases decisions on if and where to biopsy," she said.

The study was published in the journal Blood Cancer. 

 this is only for your information, kindly take the advice of your doctor for medicines, exercises and so on.

https://gscrochetdesigns.blogspot.com. one can see my crochet creations

https://gseasyrecipes.blogspot.com. feel free to view for easy, simple and healthy recipes

https://kneereplacement-stickclub.blogspot.com. for info on knee replacement