Patients Suffering From Neuroblastoma May Benefit From Bridge Therapy

Written by Kinkini Gupta | Updated : June 9, 2022 12:31 PM IST

Neuroblastoma, a pediatric cancer that arises from immature nerve cells has a very high risk of recurrence among approximately half of the children who are already suffering from cancer. With ever-advancing medicine and technology, researchers however have discovered a new therapy called the 'bridge therapy.' A study conducted and published the journal Cancer states that patients suffering from neuroblastoma may benefit from this therapy between induction and consolidation treatments. Neuroblastoma can often be cured by surgical removal of tumors followed by chemotherapy. These patients often receive induction therapy composed of various drugs used to carry out chemotherapy and surgery. This is followed by consolidation therapy, which involves a high-dose chemotherapy and stem cell transplants. Unfortunately, these treatments, which are currently in use, have not been successful in many children.

This newly discovered therapy will include immunotherapy drugs that have demonstrated anti-neuroblastoma activity in combination with chemotherapy, radiolabeled MBIG or combinations of chemotherapeutic agents. Research suggests that this therapy could offer some benefit to cancer patients. To examine the effectiveness of this therapy, a study including the data from 201 patients diagnosed with neuroblastoma at various hospitals from 2008-2018 were taken into consideration. Some patients were treated in three groups with different approaches based on physician, institutional or family preferences. The three steps were:

This study was especially done to find out if patients are responding well to bridge therapy prior to consolidation with stem cell transplant. They found out that the following results with patients who directly underwent consolidation:

Response to induction therapy is known to increase survival rate, and the study suggests that bridge therapy prior to consolidation therapy benefits patients with high-risk neuroblastoma with a poor response to induction. Also, response to bridge therapy prior to consolidation therapy is associated with outcome, and patients with less than a partial response may benefit from alternative treatment approaches. An accompanying editorial discusses the findings and agrees that future studies of bridge therapy for patients who do not experience a favorable response following standard induction therapy are needed.

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Bridge Therapy For Neuroblastoma: A Game-Changing Paediatric Cancer Treatment | TheHealthSite.com - TheHealthSite