May 15, 2023
Canadian scientists say they’ve tested a unique one-two punch to treat patients with a deadly form of brain cancer, finding that in a small subset of patients, it stopped their tumour from growing or eliminated it.
The study, published in the journal Nature, reports the overall survival rate among the 49 glioblastoma patients treated in Canada and the U.S. was about 12.5 months – longer than the average six- to eight-month lifespan for patients with glioblastomas that return despite aggressive treatment.
“We have a 50 per cent overall increased survival, which is remarkable. It’s almost double what an individual person would have lived,” said study lead author Dr. Gelareh Zadeh, a neurosurgeon and co-director of the Krembril Brain Institute at the University Health Network in Toronto.