Most of the children who had suffered from childhood cancer also risk heart failure later in life. While the effects of chemotherapy are harsh and can endanger the children's lives, new trial hopes to increase the childhood cancer survivors who surpass this health issue.
The reason why chemotherapy treatment has such a high potential to affect the children's hearts is that their bodies are developing, and it represents a common concern among cancer researchers.
Heart Disease: Common Side Effect Of Chemotherapy Treatment
A new research, which is being conducted by a team from the Children's Oncology Group on a national level, trials a drug that could potentially minimize the effects of chemotherapy on children's hearts.
"You go through terrible chemotherapy, achieve remission, have a new lease on life and then your heart fails," Dr. Todd Cooper, director of the Pediatric Leukemia/Lymphoma Program, noted the irony.
As part of the research, children and adolescents who relapsed into acute myelogenous leukemia are being subjected to trialing a new drug. The medicine, called CPX-351, is especially created to kill the cells responsible for leukemia in the patients while also not being invasive on the hearts of the young people.
According to Cooper, who is also lead researcher in the study, approximately 30 percent of the people who suffer from AML and are treated with chemotherapy have a higher risk of suffering from heart diseases later in life.
Liposome: The Safer Package Of Chemotherapy
The medicine has been tested before the trial stared, and it showed astonishingly promising results.
"CPX-351 should be considered standard first-line treatment for older patients with high-risk AML," explained Jeffrey E. Lancet, MD, main investigator for the study.
Due to the fact that the AML affection is subjected to complicated treatment in order not to pose any danger to patients, multiple chemotherapy sessions are required in order to make sure that the cancer cells are fought properly. However, this comes with the risk of complications later in life, especially when it is the case of children, whose bodies are still developing.
The CPX-351 drug is essentially different than previous treatment methods. The medication is contained as part of a liposomal formulation, which — it is believed — raises less heart risks. The container is employed to transport the drugs into the body, thus fighting against the cells that cause leukemia in the bone marrow.
The packaging should improve the overall safety of the treatment, which may result in less side effects of chemotherapy used to treat cancer, especially in younger people who are more prone to complications.
