Cutting-Edge Cancer Treatment: Health Story

Aired on Superstation WGN
Saturday, March 26 and June 25, 2005
Show 209

One out of every two men and one out of every three women will get cancer. "I felt healthy and I was active and working. I thought there was some mistake when I was diagnosed with breast cancer. On the second chemo treatment I broke down crying," says cancer survivor Deborah Elizondo Brady. She decided to try Arimidex™, a drug that targets cancer cells and is being used at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. "This drug lowers estrogen 98 percent, so there is no estrogen for cancer cells to survive," says Dr. Aman Buzdar, the oncologist at Anderson who led this study which had amazing results. There were far fewer side effects with this type of targeted chemotherapy. Dr. Eugenie Kleinerman, Head of Pediatrics at Anderson has been using a targeted aerosol treatment. "Most pediatric tumors spread to the lungs. Aerosol chambers can send higher concentrations of chemo directly to the lungs. There is less time in the hospital and less side effects. Targeted therapy is the future," says Dr. Kleinerman. "Our knowledge of how a cell grows is translating into treatments," says Dr. Roy Herbst, oncologist at Anderson. Breast cancer survivor Deborah says, "Targeted chemo has been a very positive experience that I am grateful for."