Great News for Senator Thompson, who received Rituxan a great new treatment for Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma

Great News for Senator Fred Thompson who suffers from Marginal Zone Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma! Doing more digging and I found one study which is promising for Sentor Thompson. This is very good news indeed. This will be welcomed by many, especially Conservatives. It sounds like the Staging of the disease and all that could be a mute point because of this new treatment. Thompson received Radiation(previous post & CNN), and in addition received Rituxan, a new Monoclonal Therapy which on one study give Patients' with this type of Lymphoma a 95-100% 3 year or more survivability.

From CancerConsultants.com

Rituxan Effective in Treatment of Splenic Marginal Zone Lymphoma and Marginal Lymphoma

According to the results of a study published in the journal Cancer, the targeted therapy Rituxan® (rituximab) appears to be effective in the treatment of two relatively uncommon types of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma—splenic marginal zone lymphoma and marginal zone lymphoma

Splenic marginal zone lymphoma and marginal zone lymphoma are low-grade types of B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL). To evaluate the use of Rituxan among patients with these types of NHL, researchers evaluated treatment outcomes among 70 patients.

Twenty-six patients had been treated with Rituxan alone, six patients had been treated with chemotherapy plus Rituxan, 11 patients had been treated with chemotherapy alone, and 10 underwent surgical removal of the spleen. The remaining patients received close follow-up ("watch and wait").

A complete or partial disappearance of detectable cancer was experienced by 88% of patients treated with Rituxan alone, 83% of patients treated with Rituxan and chemotherapy, and 55% of patients treated with chemotherapy alone.

The proportion of patients who survived for three years or longer was 95% among patients treated with Rituxan alone,

100% among patients treated with Rituxan and chemotherapy,

and 55% among patients treated with chemotherapy alone.

The researchers conclude that among patients with splenic marginal zone lymphoma or marginal zone lymphoma, treatment that includes Rituxan appears to produce better outcomes than treatment with chemotherapy alone.

Reference: Cancer. 2006;107:125-35

• Outcomes in Patients with Splenic Marginal Zone Lymphoma and Marginal Zone Lymphoma Treated with Rituximab with or without Chemotherapy or Chemotherapy Alone.
  
• by A.M. Tsimberidou M.D.,Ph.D., D. Catovsky M.D., E. Schlette M.D., et al.