Last generation medications reduce toxicity in treatments.
The hematologist Atherton Gray, from the Hospital Princesa Margarita in London, and the oncologist Pablo Cagnoni, from the University of Colorado (USA), presented at the headquarters of the National Cancer Institute, in Rio de Janeiro, the results of their research on the latest Medications discovered to combat that malady. One of these known, known as daunoxome and used in chemotherapy treatments, «has been improved with the creation of a synthetic fat capsule that has reduced toxicity to a minimum by eliminating direct contact with the blood, «explained Gray.
According to the British scientist, the use of daunoxome intravenously carried implicit risks, which have been reduced by enclosing the drug in said synthetic capsule.
«The drug now attacks the cancer cells directly, without producing any side effects,» Gray said.
«We are facing the technology of the future, which will allow us to increase the doses without compromising the health of the patient, and we have already proven this with the use of capsules in many patients,» added the British specialist.
Cagnoni, meanwhile, referred to the benefits of amphotericin, which is also now used in synthetic fat capsules and eliminates infections caused by a type of fungus very common among cancer patients.
«Since the discovery of synthetic capsules, we have increased amphotericin doses by three and up to five times, and we have seen a reduction in toxicity of up to 50 percent,» Cagnoni explained.
According to the American scientist, infections caused by fungi treated with amphotericin are the main cause of death among patients with marrow cancer.
