Iowa residents who are suffering from pancreatic cancer may be interested to know that if their cancer does not spread to other parts of their body, they are more likely to live longer while maintaining a four-drug regimen than taking a single cancer medication. This is according to researchers who presented their findings at an American Society of Clinical Oncology conference.
The results of the study indicate that folfirinox, a potent chemotherapy treatment, is likely to be the standard course of treatment for small number of pancreatic cancer patients whose conditions were diagnosed soon enough to be excised by surgery. Nearly 40 percent of patients who took folfirniox no longer had the disease after an average of three years. This is compared to the just 20 percent of patients who were free of the disease after taking Gemzar, the standard drug for pancreatic cancer.
Additionally, nearly two-thirds of all patients who took folfirinox were still living while less than 50 percent of the patients who took Gemzar were still living when the follow-up took place. According to the chief medical officer of the ASCO, the results of the study represent the most significant advancement regarding the treatment of pancreatic cancer within the last 25 years.
Pancreatic cancer is a condition for which there is no screening, and the forecast for pancreatic cancer patients has been dismal. The indications of the disease, which include abdominal pain, fatigue and weight loss, typically do not appear until the disease has progressed and spread.
A medical malpractice attorney may be able to pursue financial compensation on behalf of patients whose misdiagnosis resulted in the spread of a highly fatal disease such as pancreatic cancer. The attorney may file lawsuits against the appropriate medical personnel for other forms of medical malpractice, including wrong-site surgery or anesthesia errors.