Survival Boost
Judy Siegel-Itzkovich, THE JERUSALEM POST
The monoclonal antibody drug Rutiximab (commercially known as Mabtera) has been shown to reduce mortality by an amazing 40 percent in follicular lymphoma patients; 400 new cases are diagnosed each year.
This was proven in research at the Rabin Medical Center-Beilinson Campus that was published recently in the prestigious Journal of the [US] National Cancer Institute.
The meta-analysis of a number of previous controlled studies included Mabtera treatment on 985 patients who were followed up for three years. Dr. Liat Vital of the Davidoff Cancer Center on the Petah Tikva campus said most patients with this kind of blood cancer have relapses.
If this immunological treatment is given following chemotherapy, she added, survival rates soar. Prof. Ofer Sperling, head of the hematology department there, said such patients should receive Mabtera for two years after a relapse of the lymphoma and that it should become standard treatment for all cases. The Rabin Medical Center research, he continued, will help lengthen the survival of many patients around the world.
Related Articles
Painless Robotic Surgery
A distinguished heart surgeon
from Rabin Medical Center
in Israel visited South Florida in
April to discuss with the medical
community new technologies in
minimally invasive heart surgery
using robotics, so that patients
may resume activities within
three days.
A Tomato a Day Keeps the Doctor Away
The juicy tomato, a daily feature of the Israeli diet, may be helping keep Israelis healthy.
The Heart and the Computer
“We are on the way to the big bang in cardiology: artificial intelligence and the development of breakthrough engineering and genetic technologies are expected to be at the forefront of the future war on cardiovascular diseases.”