Cancer research is interesting to me because it seems like there are so many methods which can come into play which you probably wouldn't have thought about. This was the case for me as a recent story came to my attention. Did you know that there's the possibility for the polio virus to actually shrink tumors in the brain? This was the case for Stephanie Lipscomb and, to say the least, the findings at the end of this particular experiment left me surprised at what may help.
According to ABC News, Lipscomb was diagnosed during the tail end of her freshman year in college when she felt headaches start to occur and become worse as time went on. Ultimately, she went into the emergency room and learned that she had a glioblastoma tumor - deemed the most common type of growth in the brain - behind her left eye. She had surgery to remove it and while it reappeared two years later, there was a suggestion for another method to help, at least to some degree.
Lipscomb's neurologist suggested a new clinical trial once her tumor resurfaced a couple of years later after the initial surgery. Polio would be injected and, according to neurologist Dr. Annick Desjardins, it would go into the cancer cells and destroy them from within. The reason why Lipscomb was able to utilize this procedure while other patients could not was because of where the tumor was located. Seeing as how her growth was on the right frontal lobe, she didn't have to worry about language or vision being impacted.
While not the most traditional method in this particular field, it's good to see that the results have been tremendous. According to the written piece, after this procedure in the field of cancer research, Lipscomb's tumor decreased from the size of a lime to the size of a pea. She was the first patient to utilize this method and it went to show in how her survival rate became better from the initial five years she was given. This is the kind of story deserving of attention from organizations such as Voices against Brain Cancer.
As you can tell, there is much to learn about cancer research and we are uncovering more information on the matter day after day. It's clear that this is one of the more interesting stories because it has been able to take a virus not many would have considered and incorporate it for the sake of helping a patient. Of course there were concerns on the matter. However, they soon faded away once it was made clear just how well the virus in question was able to help Lipscomb.
According to ABC News, Lipscomb was diagnosed during the tail end of her freshman year in college when she felt headaches start to occur and become worse as time went on. Ultimately, she went into the emergency room and learned that she had a glioblastoma tumor - deemed the most common type of growth in the brain - behind her left eye. She had surgery to remove it and while it reappeared two years later, there was a suggestion for another method to help, at least to some degree.
Lipscomb's neurologist suggested a new clinical trial once her tumor resurfaced a couple of years later after the initial surgery. Polio would be injected and, according to neurologist Dr. Annick Desjardins, it would go into the cancer cells and destroy them from within. The reason why Lipscomb was able to utilize this procedure while other patients could not was because of where the tumor was located. Seeing as how her growth was on the right frontal lobe, she didn't have to worry about language or vision being impacted.
While not the most traditional method in this particular field, it's good to see that the results have been tremendous. According to the written piece, after this procedure in the field of cancer research, Lipscomb's tumor decreased from the size of a lime to the size of a pea. She was the first patient to utilize this method and it went to show in how her survival rate became better from the initial five years she was given. This is the kind of story deserving of attention from organizations such as Voices against Brain Cancer.
As you can tell, there is much to learn about cancer research and we are uncovering more information on the matter day after day. It's clear that this is one of the more interesting stories because it has been able to take a virus not many would have considered and incorporate it for the sake of helping a patient. Of course there were concerns on the matter. However, they soon faded away once it was made clear just how well the virus in question was able to help Lipscomb.
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