Anti-Angiogenic And Complimentary Therapies Are Among Potential Treatments.(for breast cancer)

2001 JUN 7 - (NewsRx Network) -- by Charles W. Henderson, senior medical writer - A breast cancer researcher believes that anti-angiogenesis and complimentary therapies may help breast cancer patients.

Gabries N. Hortobagyi, chairman of the department of breast medical oncology at University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, presented the latest breast cancer information on May 14, 2001, at a Fellows Meet the Professor Session at the 37th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Oncology (ASCO), San Francisco, California.

In an interview with NewsRx, Hortobagyi said the current medical treatment for primary metastatic breast cancer is based on the combination of several treatments, primarily surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, and the hormone, tamoxifen.

"This multidisciplinary or multi-specialty treatment is highly successful, and with patients diagnosed in stages 0, 1, or 2 breast cancer, this results in a cure in probably somewhere between 75% of patients for the higher stages, up to about 95%-98% for the earliest noninvasive breast cancer," Hortobagyi told NewsRx.

He was asked to discuss other potential treatments, including mainstream, alternative, and complimentary ones.

"There are today probably close to 500 new forms of treatment in oncology in general, that are relevant. These are scientifically developed treatment forms that are in different stages of development. Some are just starting human clinical trials, some are in very advanced stages of clinical trial, and of these, we will probably identify a number that will add to whatever we have and will be a part of mainstream medicine," Hortobagyi said.

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