Canadian Research One of 2005’s Top Advances

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A study led by a Canadian surgeon was among those listed as the top advances in cancer research in 2005 by the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) (Alexandria, VA).
Dr. Timothy Winton of the University of Alberta (Edmonton, AB) led a team of researchers from the National Cancer Institute of Canada Clinical Trials Group and the U.S. National Cancer Institute Intergroup Trial studying how non-small cell lung cancer patients benefit from chemotherapy following surgery.
Trial results, which were published in the New England Journal of Medicine last summer, indicate that patients who receive the cancer drugs vinorelbine and cisplatin following surgery have a much greater survival rate than patients who undergo surgery alone. The risk of disease occurrence in the group that received chemotherapy was also found to be 40% lower.
Some of the other advances the ASCO honoured included the findings that Herceptin® greatly reduced the chance of HER-2-positive early-stage breast cancer reoccurrence and that two vaccines have showed significant results in preventing human papillomavirus, a virus linked to cervical cancer.