LIFE SPAN OF LIVER CANCER PATIENTS MAY BE PROLONGED

SINGAPORE, June 24 (Bernama) -- Patients who suffer from liver cancer may
have a chance to live longer if a study by a group of regional clinicians is any
indication.

According to Singapore's National Cancer Centre (NCCS) Thursday, the result
of the study showed that patients suffering from liver cancer or hepatocellular
carcinoma (HCC) might live up to another nine months longer.

The study is being conducted by the Asia-Pacific Hepatocellular Carcinoma
(AHCC) Trials Group, a collaborative group formed in 1997 by clinicians treating
liver cancer in major medical centres in the Asia-Pacific region.

The aims of the group are to conduct preventive and therapeutic trials in
HCC, to carry out basic and translational research in this field and to develop
training and educational programmes pertaining to liver cancer.

In a statement, the centre said that in a recently concluded clinical trial,
two existing treatment modalities, systemic therapy (Sorafenib) and selective
internal radiation therapy (SIR-Spheres), wer e administered to patients as
combination therapy by the clinicians.

The result was they were able to achieve a median overall survival of 11.75
months for the entire group of 35 patients.

In the sub-group of patients with no distant spread of disease, a median
survival of 18.25 months was achieved.

These results were better than those with treatment by either therapy alone,
the centre said, adding that the study was presented at the American Society of
Clinical Oncology conference in Chicago, United States, on June 6.

Prof Soo Khee Chee, Group Chair of the AHCC Trials Group and NCCS Director
said the trial result was very encouraging as it gave patients a glimmer of
hope.

The centre said curative treatments such as surgical resection,
transplantation and radiofrequency ablation for patients were not options for
patients with advanced liver cancer.

Faced with a poor prognosis, these advanced stage patients generally had a
median survival of about three months if left untreated, it added.

Liver cancer is the fifth most common cancer worldwide, and almost 80
per cent of the cases are found in the Asia-Pacific region.

The centre also said that as the majority of patients with liver cancer did
not develop any symptoms, only one in five could potentially be cured by surgery
when diagnosed.

The trial, which commenced in June 2008, recruited patients from four
countries, namely Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore and South Korea, and closed a
year after in June.

In view of the success of the trial, the centre said the trials group would
launch a follow-up trial to determine which of these two efficacious therapies
would help patients survive longer and be the first-line therapy in advanced
liver cancer.

More than 20 centres from 13 countries in the Asia Pacific region, including
Australia, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan, are expected to be part of the
trial, which is the sixth and largest multicentre trial to be conducted by the
AHCC Trials Group.
-- BERNAMA


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