New cancer treatment can kill tumours cells in head and neck cancer patients: Study

A study has found that a new cancer treatment can destroy tumours in the head and necks of patients, who have been diagnosed as terminally ill. The scientists discovered a mix of nivolumab and ipilimumab medications led to a reduction in the size of tumours. In some, their cancer vanished altogether, with doctors stunned to find no detectable sign of disease, The Guardian reported.

Patients were given a mix of immunotherapy medications, which sparked their immune systems into killing their own cancer cells. It prompted “a positive trend in survival”, according to researchers at Institute of Cancer Research (ICR), London.

Some of the patients lived months or years longer than expected and suffered fewer side effects, scientists said.

Combining the two immunotherapy drugs could prove an effective new weapon against several forms of advanced cancer, experts believe. Results from other trials of the drug combination have previously suggested similar benefits for terminally ill kidney, skin and bowel cancer patients, The Guardian reported.