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This article reports long term results of the first Novocure TTF device trial: 4 out of 20 patients GBM (20%) alive, in good health and no longer receiving any treatment with no clinical or radiological signs of recurrence more than 7 YEARS after starting the trial! (2 were newly diagnosed, 2 were recurrent when they started the trial).
This is amazing. The expected 7 year survival rate is about 4%, so you would expect less than 1 of the original 20 patients to survie. This is 500% better.
Disclaimer: The company that makes the Novocure TTF device is a sponsor of our organization.
World J Surg Oncol. 2012 Oct 24;10(1):220. [Epub ahead of print]
Long-term survival of patients suffering from glioblastoma multiforme treated with tumortreating fields.
Rulseh AM, Keller JI, Klener J, 352 Roubek J, Dbalý V, Syr 367 269 Ek M, Tovary 353 FE, Vymazal J.
Abstract
ABSTRACT: Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is the most common and malignant primary intracranial tumor, and has a median survival of only 10 to 14 months with only 3 to 5% of patients surviving more than three years. Recurrence (RGBM) is nearly universal, and further decreases the median survival to only five to seven months with optimal therapy. Tumortreating fields (TTField) therapy is a novel treatment technique that has recently received CE and FDA approval for the treatment of RGBM, and is based on the principle that low intensity, intermediate frequency electric fields (100 to 300 kHz) may induce apoptosis in specific cell types. Our center was the first to apply TTField treatment to histologically proven GBM in a small pilot study of 20 individuals in 2004 and 2005, and four of those original 20 patients are still alive today. We report two cases of GBM and two cases of RGBM treated by TTField therapy, all in good health and no longer receiving any treatment more than seven years after initiating TTField therapy, with no clinical or radiological evidence of recurrence.
PMID: 23095807 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]