Can Kidney Cancer Be Stopped by Sibling Blood Cell Transfusion?
Kidney cancer can be reversed by transfusing blood cells from a healthy sibling according to a study published in the Sept. 14 issues of the New England Journal of Medicine. Dr. Nicholas Vogelzang, an advisor for the Kidney Cancer Association called the discovery “the biggest advance in kidney cancer in 22 years,” but the national Institutes of Health cautioned that the treatment has its dangers and requires further study because patients have been followed for only two years and doctors conventionally require a five year remission period to assume that a patient is likely to remain cancer-free. The author of the study, Dr. Richard Childs, says that the treatment remains experimental right now, since it takes months to work and two out of 19 patients died from the treatment itself. Dr. Robert Figlin of UCLA suggest that only about 20% of kidney cancer cases would be slow-growing enough to make the blood cell transfusion an option, in any case, but Voelzang argues that the treatment mig
