From today's "The West Australian"Majority of cancer patients...

From today's "The West Australian"

Majority of cancer patients ‘still in remission’following breakthrough Perth trial

Rebecca ParishThe West Australian

Wed, 21 August 2024 4:00AM

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RebeccaParish

The majority of cancer patients involved in a landmark Perth clinicaltrial remain in remission years later after a breakthrough treatment thatbypasses the need for chemotherapy.

The remarkable development is the result of a eureka moment for SirCharles Gairdner Hospital consultant haematologist Professor Chan Cheah, whofirst thought of the treatment while out running in 2016.

The first of 50 patients with advanced follicular lymphoma wererecruited in 2019 and given a combination of three drugs over six months aimedat killing off cancer cells.

“It’s not a quick thing to do, designing your own clinical trials and Ihave to say it’s not something which is done in WA very often because itrequires so much effort and so much work,” Professor Cheah said.

“For WA to have what’s called an investigator-initiated trial like thisis a bit of a landmark.”

While he could not yet reveal the full results of the study yet,Professor Cheah said most of the patients involved were “still in remission”.

“The vast majority of patients had what we call a complete response, soin other words, they had another scan at the end of their six months oftreatment and the scan showed that all the cancer was gone,” he said.

Professor Chan Cheah. Credit: Andrew Ritchie/The WestAustralian

“It certainly looks very encouraging.”

When Girrawheen father-of-five Robert Sutherland was diagnosed withlymphoma after finding a large lump in his groin in 2019, he was adamant hewould not accept chemotherapy as part of his treatment.

He said he was lucky to be accepted as the first person to be treated inthe trial, adding the results were “better than winning the lotto”.

“I went to the wife the next day after the treatment and I said, ‘I cantbelieve this, but I feel like it’s going down already’, and she felt it andsaid the same thing,” he said.

“After a few months it wasn’t long and I was back to work.

“It’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”

Five years on, Mr Sutherland now has blood tests every three months andsaid he has “not had a problem in the world” health wise.

He said the treatment had not only been effective, he had also notsuffered any side effects.

Professor Cheah will unveil the results of the seven-year trial inDecember, when he presents them to other experts in the field at the AmericanSociety of Haematology’s annual conference in San Diego.

He said while technology and treatments have continued to advance in thetime that the trial has been running, he hoped the treatment would provide moreoptions for medical teams dealing with the condition.

He encouraged anyone with cancer who had the opportunity to take part inclinical trials to do so.

“I really want to encourage all patients with cancer to ask theirdoctors about whether there are clinical trials available to participate inbecause that’s the only way that we can improve outcomes overall,” ProfessorCheah said.