Miracles do exist, and that was the story of a group of 18 patients with rectal cancer who each had the tumors disappearing after taking the medication Dostarlimab for about six months.
Dostarlimab is a medication made in a lab that functions in the body as an alternative to antibodies. The identical medicine was administered to all 18 rectal cancer patients, and as a result of the treatment, all patients’ cancers were fully eradicated and were no longer detectable by physical examination, endoscopy, positron emission tomography or PET scans, or MRI scans.
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Keep reading to find out more.
Undergoing Different Treatments Before Now
According to the NY Times , the patients who took part in the study underwent arduous treatments in the past, including chemotherapy, radiation, and, most likely, life-altering surgery that could cause bowel, urinary, and sexual dysfunction.
Complete remission in every case was “unheard-of,” University of California colorectal cancer expert Dr. Alan Venook told the newspaper.
Ground-Breaking Stir In The Medical World
The results are currently creating a stir in the medical community. Dr. Alan P. Venook, a colorectal cancer expert at the University of California, said in a statement to the media that it is “unheard-of” for every patient to get a complete remission. He praised the study as a first of its kind. He also said that not all patients experienced serious side effects from the experimental medicine made it all the more astounding.
Happy Moment For The Patient
Oncologist Dr. Andrea Cercek of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and one of the paper’s co-authors recounted how patients felt when they learned they were cancer-free. She admitted to the New York Times that “there were many happy tears.”
Method Of Drug Use
Patients in the trial took Dostarlimab once every three weeks for six months. Their cancer was locally advanced in the rectum and had not yet spread to other organs; therefore, they were all in similar stages of the disease.
Were There Any Notable Side Effects?
Although it’s thought that not enough participants were included in the study to highlight all of the potential negative effects that the medication can have, the patients also reported no notable side effects during their course of treatment.
Vanished Cancer After Six Months
The patients’ malignancy had disappeared six months after they stopped using the drug and was no longer visible on physical examination, endoscopic, PET, or MRI scans.
Undergoing More Trials
Scientists have expressed excitement over the research but cautioned against drawing any conclusions about cancer’s permanent eradication and stated that it would be necessary to repeat the encouraging results.
Two Years After The Study
The patients appeared to be cancer-free two years after the study, and none of the trial subjects had undergone surgery or received chemoradiotherapy.
Evolutional Results
The University of North Carolina’s Dr. Hanna Sanoff, who was not engaged in the study, characterized it as “small but compelling.”
In an accompanying editorial , she stated, “These results are cause for great optimism,” she continued, “provided what may be an early glimpse of a revolutionary treatment shift”.