Double Whammy Skin Cancer Treatment Has Some Success

There seems to be some hope on the horizon for people who have been diagnosed with malignant melanoma. This is the worst of the skin cancers and considered the most deadly. In an average year fifty thousand Americans will be diagnosed with melanoma, nearly eight thousand of them will lose the battle. The reason this form of skin cancer is so hazardous is that if it is not caught early enough, it spreads. Recently there is new hope on the horizon for treatment that will slow this down and maybe even stop it.

Recently research has had astonishing results with a combination of two skin cancer drugs that previously had not been very successful on their own. As a matter of fact the feeling among researchers is that this combination may be better than anything else currently being used to treat melanoma. Something about this combination is highly toxic to the melanoma cells. This has become obvious to them even though they are not entirely clear on why it works

Tamoxifen and Cisplatin

The two drugs, tamoxifen and cisplatin, were used in a recent study of a hundred and fifty patients who had already successfully had their melanomas surgically removed. All of these people were supposed to be at high risk for a reoccurrence of their skin cancer. So they became involved with a clinical trial of this new treatment.

Each one of the patients was given the tamoxifen for seven days a month over a period of four months. The cisplatin was given only once during that seven day period. After two years the test group had almost no reoccurrences of melanoma. After three years sixty-six percent remained free of the skin cancer. The researchers believe that those results mean an outcome of seventy nine percent who should live for at least five years. That five-year period is always the outcome that they look towards. It’s the bare minimum that all drug studies aim for as a success rate.

Interferon – Immune Boosting Drug

This is a big improvement over other drugs that have had only a thirty five to forty five percent success rate with melanomas that had spread. Even Interferon, an immune boosting drug, does not seem to work with melanomas that have already spread. Currently too many of the researchers who are working on melanoma cures feel that this one two punch will not be the answer. They believe that there are too many unanswered questions and the long-term answer is still eluding them.

Researchers believe that continued research could bring them closer to an answer for skin cancer. They are currently putting a lot of their research efforts into trying to find a vaccine. The feeling is that a vaccine that could stimulate the immune system to fight the melanoma is the ultimate answer and they believe they will find it. Until then the best you can do for yourself is to take precautions when you are going to be outside in the sun’s ultraviolet rays. Use sunscreen and dress to protect yourself.