Evolution hints at a superbug strategy

[Hopeful]

http://www.philly.com/philly/health_...130096863.html

Hopeful

[Rich66]

Interesting. I know with my father and his ongoing urinary tract infections, the idea was to manage/monitor the bacteria level and treat only when it reached symptomatic level...and then with drugs chosen based on sensitivity tests. So it was essentially an approach that gave up on cure.
From the article:

Read studies malaria in mice, where he has found that a lower dose or shorter course of antimalarial drugs can sometimes work much better than a higher dose when there are mixtures of resistant and nonresistant strains.

Makes me wonder if an option for advanced cancer might be a sensitivity test informed metronomic or staggered approach.

[Ellie F]

Very intersting. I first heard about this 30 years ago at a medical conference where the presenter was ridiculed! Makes you think .

Ellie

[Hopeful]

Makes me wonder if an option for advanced cancer might be a sensitivity test informed metronomic or staggered approach.

Rich, I was thinking much the same thing. Years ago, I read about a study to be done in Europe for early stage bc that involved an intermittent AI regimen (3 months on, 3 months off) compared to a control group that would receive continuous treatment. I don't know whatever became of it, but it would be interesting to see results in light of this research.

Hopeful