DRUG FOUND TO LESSEN RAVAGES OF BONE CANCER\Calcium-reducing medication minimized pain, fractures in study.Byline: Mary Beth Alexander Daily News Staff Writer A drug taken to lower blood calcium blood calcium, n the level of calcium in the blood plasma, generally regulated by parathyroid gland activity in conjunction with the degree of calcium ingestion, absorption, use, and excretion. Normal value is 8.5 to 11.5 mg/100 ml of blood serum. levels in some bone cancer patients actually reduces pain and crippling fractures associated with the disease, a joint Veterans Affairs and UCLA UCLA University of California at Los Angeles UCLA University Center for Learning Assistance (Illinois State University) UCLA University of Carrollton, TX and Lower Addison, TX study released Wednesday shows. The study shows patients with multiple myeloma cancer who took the drug, known generically as pamidronate and sold as Aredia, needed less radiation and surgical treatment and suffered fewer broken bones and paralyzing spinal injuries than those given a placebo. "There was less requirement for pain drugs and analgesics Analgesics Definition Analgesics are medicines that relieve pain. Purpose Analgesics are those drugs that mainly provide pain relief. in the group that got Aredia," said research team leader Dr. James Berenson of the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center at UCLA and the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in West Los Angeles
As a result of the study, to be released today in the New England Journal of Medicine The New England Journal of Medicine (New Engl J Med or NEJM) is an English-language peer-reviewed medical journal published by the Massachusetts Medical Society. It is one of the most popular and widely-read peer-reviewed general medical journals in the world. , the federal Food and Drug Administration approved the wide use of Aredia with sufferers of multiple myeloma, a rare cancer form that the American Cancer Society American Cancer Society, n.pr established in 1913, this national volunteer-based health organization is committed to the elimination of cancer through prevention and treatment and to diminishing cancer suffering through advocacy, scholarship, research, estimated killed 10,300 people last year. About 50,000 people in the United States suffer from multiple myeloma, but Berenson said the study may offer hope for patients with more common cancers - like breast, prostate or lung cancer - that also can affect the bones. To be effective, the Aredia would have to be taken intravenously once a month, Berenson said. He said the procedure could cost between $350 and $400 each dosage, but that it could easily be administered at home. Aredia had been used for more than five years to periodically treat high calcium levels in myeloma myeloma /my·elo·ma/ (mi?e-lo´mah) a tumor composed of cells of the type normally found in the bone marrow. giant cell myeloma see under tumor (1). patients, Berenson said. He said patients reported feeling less pain while using the drug, and results of a small-scale European study that indicated the drug might strengthen patients' bones prompted the more in-depth study. Myeloma attacks plasma cells that make antibodies, which causes excess production of acids and proteins that erode the bone, Berenson said. Aredia impedes the breakdown, Berenson said. Berenson said the study was too brief to determine whether the drug might also prolong cancer sufferers' lives. |
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