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Cancer Drug Stops Nosebleeds - Research Summary
The following information is provided by a third party and has not been edited by The Post and Courier for content or accuracy.
BACKGROUND: Hereditary Hemorrhagic Telangiectasia, or HHT, is a genetic disorder of the blood vessels. According to the University of California, San Diego, it affects about one in 2,000 people. The disorder is also referred to as Osler-Weber-Rendu after several doctors who studied HHT about 100 years ago. In 1896, HHT was first described as a hereditary disorder involving nosebleeds and characteristic red spots that was distinctly different from hemophilia.
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TRADITIONAL APPROACH DOESN'T ALWAYS WORK: The nosebleeds caused by HHT sometime respond to everyday practical treatments at home. Patients can try humidification of the air and use of ointments on the lining of the nose to keep the nose moist. If these remedies don't work, the first medical treatment is usually laser therapy. A small beam is directed around the margins of each telangiectasia, and the treatment typically needs to be repeated periodically. "We didn't have a treatment at all really," Terence Davidson, M.D., director of the UCSD Nasal Dysfunction Clinic in San Diego, Calif., told Ivanhoe. "All we had was something to put a Band-Aid on and hold pressure on it."
NEW APPROACH: /strongDr. Davidson is testing a new approach to treatment of HHT. He's using the cancer drug Avastin in low doses in both injection and spray forms to stop the nosebleeds. "I have had phenomenal results," Dr. Davidson said. "Never in my life have I been able to treat people [with] a nosebleed a day, and now all of a sudden, that's routine." In injection form, the drug needs to be administered under anesthesia. In spray form, the patient comes to the doctor's office every few months to get a dose. In one study, a shot of Avastin controlled nosebleeds for up to two years. In spray form, it stopped nosebleeds for up to four months. Dr. Davidson has used the treatment on 50 patients over the past three years and hasn't seen any adverse side effects. He says there is a chance that the drug can interfere with wound healing. Right now, Avastin for nosebleeds is still considered clinical research, so patients cannot get a prescription for the spray and use the drug at home.
Avastin is a cancer drug used to treat colon cancer; non-squamous, non-small cell lung cancer, metastatic breast cancer; glioblastoma and renal cell carcinoma. It is designed to inhibit angiogenesis, the process by which new blood vessels develop.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:
Jacqueline Carr
UCSD Media Relations
(619) 543-6163
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