There's a new way to deliver chemotherapy that could be both more effective, and easier on patients with certain lung tumors. The answer could come from breathing in chemotherapy drugs instead of injecting them.
15-year-old keaton lee is a one-of-a-kind teenager, "this is the smooth green snake actually."
His doctor, cancer researcher Pete Anderson, knows him well, "He knows more about reptiles than most professors would ever hope to know."
In 2007, doctors diagnosed Keaton with osteosarcoma, a rare-but-aggressive bone cancer that almost always travels to the lungs. "Upon diagnosis, he already had metastasis to both lungs," says his mom Karen.
Keaton is part of a clinical trial that uses a nebulizer to deliver the cancer-fighting drug leukine through an aerosol he breathes. "All I have to do is sit down and inhale that for about a minute," says Keaton.
"By breathing in the mist, you have the potential to expose a lot of immune cells to the medicine," says Dr. Anderson.
The treatment is also convenient because it can be done at home and has fewer side effects. Keaton says, "It's a lot easier than, like regular chemo treatments." His mom agrees, "it doesn't take his hair away. It doesn't make him fatigued or anything like that."
So far, the aerosol method has also kept the cancer from returning. "I'm really hoping that this will be the magic bullet as they say," says mom Karen.
Dr. Anderson expands on that, "The other hope that I have is this paves the way for future innovative ways to treat cancer in the lungs."
Osteosarcoma is a cancer that occurs mostly in tees and young adults. It almost always returns after chemotherapy treatments delivered by traditional methods, such as injections under the skin.
