Science / Medicine : Breast Cancer Treatment Recycles Bone Marrow

Bone marrow transplants are helping treat some women with advanced stages of breast cancer, researchers from the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions in Baltimore reported at the recent San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium in Texas.

An estimated 140,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer every year. About 30% of these patients have a recurrence of the disease in other organs, such as the liver, the brain and the lungs. At present, there is no effective treatment for advanced breast cancer.

But an autologous bone marrow transplant--in which a portion of the patient’s own bone marrow is removed, treated chemically to kill cancer cells and reimplanted--could help some of these women. With their highly sensitive bone marrow removed, the patients are better able to tolerate higher doses of cancer-killing drugs, which are then more effective at knocking out the cancer.

Since 1987, oncologist Nancy Davidson and her colleagues have performed this procedure on 20 patients with advanced breast cancer. Nine patients have responded completely; 11 showed partial responses during nine months of follow-up after the treatment.

About a dozen centers are using the marrow transplants to battle advanced breast cancer at a cost of $75,000 to $100,000 per patient.