Tuesday, March 28,
2000 Magnets May Help in
Chemotherapy
Cancer
therapy in the future may include doctors placing a magnet over the
tumor. Physicians at the University of
California at Los Angeles have found placing large magnets about the size of a
soup can over a tumor can increase the effectiveness of chemotherapy. What do
magnets have to do with chemotherapy? The magnets help draw the drugs to the
specific area where the tumor is located, and keep the chemotherapy from
drifting into the bloodstream and causing side effects, such as nausea and hair
loss. Lead researcher Dr. Scott Goodwin
tested the magnet therapy on 14 liver
cancer patients. One patient experienced more than 50 percent reduction in
tumor size; two patients experienced similar but less dramatic effects; the
disease stabilized for five patients, meaning it stopped progressing; and six
patients experienced a progression in their cancer. Some patients suffered fever
and pain during the magnet treatment. The
findings, Dr. Goodwin says, warrant additional research about the benefits of
magnets in cancer
treatment. Magnets have primarily been used to treat pain in non-life
threatening conditions, and have shown some
success. This report was presented Monday
at the Society of Cardiovascular and Interventional Radiology annual meeting in
San Diego. --ByKatrina Woznicki
