Dramatic Improvement in Prostate Cancer

Two men with prostate cancer experienced seemingly miraculous improvement following experimental drug treatment that was used in combination with hormone treatment and radiation therapy. Both men were part of a trial that involved men who had no other options when it came to treatment. Their tumors had gone outside of the prostate and were found in their abdomen.

The treatment involved receiving androgen ablation , removing testosterone. After that therapy was completed, the patients then received one dose of an antibody called ipilimumab . The goal was to reduce the size of the tumors so surgery could be done. The results astounded the researchers:

“The tumors had shrunk dramatically,” says Michael Blute, M.D., Mayo urologist, co-investigator and surgeon, who operated on both men. “I had never seen anything like this before. I had a hard time finding the cancer. At one point the pathologist (who was working during surgery) asked if we were sending him samples from the same patient.”

To read more about the study, go to a press release issued by the Mayo Clinic: Mayo researchers: Dramatic outcomes in prostate cancer study .

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