Study: Eradicating Cancer-Causing Infection Feasible
Common bacteria, H. pylori, implicated in stomach cancer
July 22, 2011A new study finds a three-drug regimen is more effective than a four-drug regimen at eliminating the H. pylori bacteria, which can cause stomach cancer.
A new study finds it may be possible to eradicate an infection responsible for an often-fatal cancer.
The research also illustrates the complexities of that approach, especially when different treatments seem to work differently in different parts of the world.
H. pylori is an extremely common bacteria. Worldwide, about half of us have it in our gut. Most of the time, it doesn't bother us. But sometimes it causes ulcers, and H. pylori is implicated in stomach cancer, the second-deadliest cancer worldwide.
A three-drug treatment spread out over two weeks had been considered the preferred therapy. However, recent studies in Europe, Asia, and North America have found that a four-drug treatment given over five to 10 days was more effective.
But that's not the case, according to a new study, for patients in Latin America.
"And we found that the three-drug regimen - somewhat to my surprise - actually did better than the four-drug regimen," said Robert Greenberg of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, Washington.
Greenberg and his colleagues randomly assigned about 1,500 participants to different treatments. They found that the four-drug regimen - which worked so well elsewhere - was less effective than the standard triple therapy.
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2013-11-27
2013-11-27
2013-11-27
2013-11-27
2013-11-27
2013-11-27