Word: melanomas
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...being administered in various ways to stimulate the white blood cells that attack tumors. Expensive -- upwards of $80,000 for one course of treatment -- and dangerous, IL-2 is usually reserved for patients with advanced cancer. Amy Hance, 25, of Bloomington, Ill., reached that stage early this year. Melanoma, a deadly skin cancer, had spread to her liver, spleen, stomach and lungs. The determined Hance opted for experimental IL-2 therapy, even though side effects -- including fever, massive fluid retention, anemia, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and heart and lung problems -- had killed several patients...
...have partial ones. But the majority reap no benefit at all. Given the expense and the risks, the treatment has come in for some sharp criticism. Even so, University of Pennsylvania Oncologist Kevin Fox notes that IL-2 therapy is the only treatment that works at all on advanced melanoma and kidney cancer. Admits Rosenberg: "It's a treatment in its infancy...
...results, on a larger test group, confirmed the earlier findings. Rosenberg and his colleagues used the technique on 157 cancer patients with melanoma, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, and colorectal, kidney and other cancers that were initially considered untreatable. What is more, the affected tumors were metastatic -- that is, they had spread to other sites in the body. Of the 157 patients, 20 had at least a 50% reduction in tumor size, while complete remissions were produced in nine. (Four patients died from side effects of therapy.) The second paper, by Dr. William West and a team of physicians and scientists...
...seats and mobile homes--and couldn't capture the audience. Master of Ceremonies Brett Butler tried hard, but was undistinguished. Many of her lines were no better than this one she told to a patron in the front row: "That is some tan you have there--we're talking melanoma city...
Adolescents spending at least one month per year vacationing in sunny areas will have twice the risk of developing a melanoma, regardless of whether they tan well or not at all, the study found...