Balloons and signs greeted 2-year-old Caden Ledbetter's return from the hospital following a rare stem cell cancer treatment, a Dallas newspaper said.
Doctors with the Medical City Dallas Hospital released Caden Monday following a two-month treatment for neuroblastoma, a cancer of the nervous system.
Doctors used chemotherapy to treat the cancer and then used stem cells from Caden's umbilical cord to rebuild his immune system, The Dallas Morning News said Tuesday. The treatment is so rare doctors are unsure whether the cancer will stay in remission or develop again from the umbilical cells.
"We're not talking about his being cured of his neuroblastoma right now," said Dr. Joel Weinthal who treated the boy. "It's certainly a very positive thing that he gets to go home from the hospital but he has a long road ahead of him."
The Ledbetters put air purifiers and a new circulation system in their house to help protect Caden's new immune system and he will undergo more radiation treatments for cancer.
His mother told the Morning News that Caden didn't talk to anyone at the hospital "and everything was 'No, don't touch me,'" but she added that, "Now we're almost back to the Caden that we know."
Copyright 2008 by United Press International
Related stories:
Circulating tumor cells can reveal genetic signature of dangerous lung cancers
Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) investigators have shown that an MGH-developed, microchip-based device that detects and analyzes tumor cells in the bloodstream can be used to determine the genetic signature of lung tumors, allowing identification of those appropriate for targeted treatment and monitoring genetic changes that occur during therapy. A pilot study of the device called the CTC-chip will appear in the July 24
New England Journal of Medicine and is receiving early online release.
Effects of healing touch therapy being studied
Often, a gentle hand on your shoulder when you're upset is all it takes to ease your mind and calm your nerves. Now, University of Cincinnati (UC) researchers are looking at a similar occurrence by pairing a complementary therapy known as Healing Touch with mild sedation to see if the technique truly calms patients undergoing minor procedures.
Heavy birthweight increases risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis
People who have a birthweight over 10 pounds are twice as likely to develop rheumatoid arthritis when they are adults compared to individuals born with an average birthweight, according to a study published by researchers from Hospital for Special Surgery online in advance of print in the
Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases. While the mechanism for this association is unclear, the study identifies a potentially modifiable risk factor and highlights a potential way to decrease the incidence of the disease.
Zinc finger proteins put personalized HIV therapy within reach
Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and collaborators are using minute, naturally occurring proteins called zinc fingers to engineer T cells to one day treat AIDS in humans.
First pharmaceutical drug to improve survival amongst patients with advanced hepatocarcinoma
International research involving the University Hospital of the University of Navarra, together with other hospitals in Spain, has shown that Sorafenib, an orally administered pharmaceutical medicine, results in patients with primary hepatocarcinomas (liver tumours) to live 40% more on average compared to those not taking the drug. The study, led by the Barcelona Hospital Clinic, will be shortly published in the
New England Journal of Medicine.
Study finds safer, more efficient medication for hepatitis B treatment
Patients with hepatitis B who did not respond to lamivudine therapy had a better virological response after switching to entecavir for a year. Continuing the drug for an additional year led to even more clinical improvement without significant side effects, according to a new study in the July issue of
Hepatology.
New clinical trial for patients with asbestos-associated lung cancer
The Mesothelioma Center within the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital and Columbia University Medical Center is now recruiting patients for a clinical research study of a new targeted radiation and chemotherapy protocol for pleural mesothelioma, a cancer of the lung's lining that is almost always caused by previous exposure to asbestos.
Ovarian cancer's specific scent detected by dogs
Ground-breaking research in the June issue of
Integrative Cancer Therapies published by SAGE explored whether ovarian cancer has a scent different from other cancers and whether working dogs could be taught to distinguish it in its different stages.