Doctors at PGIMER, Chandigarh, have found a treatment for a type of blood cancer without using chemotherapy, a study has claimed.
Doctors at the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, said that patients with Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia (APL) were completely cured following the treatment.
Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia (APL) is a blood cancer characterized by a marked increase in a type of immature WBCs known as promyelocytes. In the U.S., APL develops in about 600 to 800 individuals each year, most often in adults around the age of 40 but also in children. The characteristic symptom of APL is the associated bleeding disorder, which can lead to excessive bleeding but also to thrombosis.
Patients generally present with weakness, gingival bleeding, petechiae or ecchymoses, visual changes, epistaxis, menorrhagia, or infections.
This impressive accomplishment was the result of approximately 15 years of research. This research makes India the first country to have a treatment for this type of blood cancer without any need for chemotherapy, as they claimed in their study published in the British Journal of Haematology.
The study said that a combination of ATO (arsenic trioxide) and ATRA (all-trans retinoic acid) can be used effectively to treat all risk classes of APL without additional chemotherapy.
Doctors used a combination of vitamin A analogs (all-trans-retinoic acid and arsenic trioxide drugs), achieving 90% success in 250 APL patients. They also added that chemotherapy can be added for high-risk patients.
Nowadays, APL patients are treated using only chemotherapy, but that risks side effects. The doctors stated that a total of 256 patients were part of the treatment, but 25 died within seven days and were excluded from the analysis.
(Input from various sources)
(Rehash/Komal Bhoi/MSM)
