Low-intensity electric-field Rx boosts chemo in NSCLC
Patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer achieved a significant increase in survival time when tumor treating fields (TTF) therapy was added to their chemotherapy. In a single-arm, phase II study, physicians delivered TTF therapy, using the NovoTTF-100L from Novocure, to 42 patients with stage IIIb-IV metastatic NSCLC who had failed prior treatments. Patients in the study received TTF therapy for 12 hours a day in combination with pemetrexed (Alimta) every three weeks until disease progression.
Patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer achieved a significant increase in survival time when tumor treating fields (TTF) therapy was added to their chemotherapy. In a single-arm, phase II study, physicians delivered TTF therapy, using the NovoTTF-100L from Novocure, to 42 patients with stage IIIb-IV metastatic NSCLC who had failed prior treatments. Patients in the study received TTF therapy for 12 hours a day in combination with pemetrexed (Alimta) every three weeks until disease progression. TTF therapy slows and reverses tumor cell proliferation by inhibiting mitosis. Patients treated with TTF plus pemetrexed had a median overall survival time of 13.8 months compared with 8.3 months reported for pemetrexed alone. The one-year survival rate for the combination was 57% vs 30% reported for pemetrexed alone (ESMO 2010 abstract 371PD).
![“[O]ur findings show that large-scale lung cancer screening is both feasible and effective, and provide a framework for successful delivery of a population-based national program,” according to the study authors.](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.sanity.io%2Fimages%2F0vv8moc6%2Fcancernetwork%2F555f5be80532573a6654f0b562c43e11aedf99df-1200x857.jpg%3Ffit%3Dcrop%26auto%3Dformat&w=3840&q=75 "“[O]ur findings show that large-scale lung cancer screening is both feasible and effective, and provide a framework for successful delivery of a population-based national program,” according to the study authors.")
