New Delhi: Few people suffering from rectal cancer just witnessed a miracle as their cancer vanished after experimental treatment. As per the report by New York Times, in a small clinical trial 18 patients took a drug called Dostarlimab for six months which resulted in their tumours disappearing, in the end.
Dostarlimab is a drug with laboratory-produced molecules that acts as an alternative to antibodies in the human body. Reportedly, all the 18 patients were given the same drug, and as a result, cancer completely vanished at the end of the treatment. The cancer was completely obliterated and was undetectable by physical exam including endoscopy; positron emission tomography or PET scans or MRI scans.
Dr Luis A. Diaz J. of New York’s Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center stated that this was “the first time this has happened in the history of cancer”.
According to New York Times, the patients faced clinical trials like chemotherapy, radiation, and invasive surgery to obliterate their cancer resulting in bowel, urinary, and even sexual dysfunction. These 18 patients went to the trial expecting it to be like one of those previous trials. However, to their surprise, no further treatment was needed.
The findings are being highlighted in the medical world. Talking to the media, Dr Alan P. Venook, who is a colorectal cancer specialist at the University of California stated that the complete remission in all the patients was “unheard-of.” He considered the research a world-first. He even notified that it was impressive as not all the patients suffered any major complications from the trial drug.
Moreover, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and a co-author of the paper, oncologist Dr Andrea Cercek said that the time the patients found out that they were cancer-free, “There were a lot of happy tears.”
In terms of the trial, the patients took Dostarlimab every three weeks for six months. Reportedly, they were more or less in the same stage of cancer. It had spread in the rectum but had not spread to other organs.
The cancer researchers who reviewed the drug had told the media that the treatment looks promising and that a larger-scale trial is needed to understand whether it will work on more patients and if the cancers are truly in remission.
