Drug shrinks brain tumours
Most patients whose melanoma has spread to the brain die within four months. But the trial's results showed brain tumours in nine of the 10 patients shrank within the first six weeks. All 10 patients survived beyond five months. Image: amphotora/iStockphoto Australian researchers have reported promising results with a new drug that shrinks brain tumours in melanoma patients. Their findings are published in The Lancet medical journal.Medical researchers at the University of Sydney, Melanoma Institute Australia, Sydney's Westmead Hospital and Westmead Millennium Institute, say a new drug they have been testing to treat deadly melanoma in the body also shows, for the first time, an ability to shrink secondary tumours (metastases) in the brains of patients with advanced forms of the disease.They say the new drug may add months to the lives of patients whose melanoma has spread to the brain. Most patients with brain metastases die within four months. The trial's...