HOUSTON – Many doctors won't hesitate to tell patients that brain tumors grow fast and fiercely.
A clinical trial by Novocure shows patients the promise of living longer with a brain tumor with the help of an electrical device that sticks to the scalp and is worn for 18-20 hours a day.
It's especially good news for patients like Martin Romero Sanchez, who was diagnosed with grade 4 glioblastoma. The disease typically claims lives 14 months after diagnosis.
"I was diagnosed in late August 2012. I was 28 years old," Sanchez said.
It may come as a surprise that when Sanchez was diagnosed with the most aggressive form of brain cancer, he was relieved. He was living frustrated for years with misdiagnoses like depression and muscle disorders.
"I was actually relieved, because now I know what I needed to attack. It was not a muscular issue," said Sanchez.
Working in his favor was his eligibility for a clinical trial to wear the Novocure electrical scalp machine for a minimum of 18 hours a day, every day, along with chemotherapy.
"It's alternating electric currents that's supplied on his scalp so he has to wear that," said Dr. Jay-Jiguang Zhu, director of neuro-oncology at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston Mischer Neuroscience Institute, Memorial Hermann Hospital. "They interfere with cell division we call mitosis."
Putting a halt to the cell division might be why Romero's cancer has not rapidly taken over his organs, which is a common progression of his disease.
"What the machine does is (apply) a low-voltage electric field around my head, and what that does is prevent the division of cancer cells and any cell in your body. If it gets delayed at the moment of division it thinks it's not the appropriate time or environment to duplicate. Also so it stops and it kills itself," Romero said.
"Martin's MRI was deemed stable in July 2014 and has remained stable since then. Stable means there is no change or tumor progression," Zhu said.
Romero attributes his longevity to the device, and Zhu said his patient's cheerful attitude also helps.
"I have a mission, which is to fight this disease, and doctors have always been honest with me that there's no cure for this disease today, but we can make it manageable for a chronic situation, similar to how diabetics manage their disease," Romero said.
The trial is still in its infancy, so while it seems promising to Sanchez, he knows it might not be the cure that will come in time to save his life. However he remains positive that it will help someone someday call themselves a survivor of glioblastoma.
"If I can help figuring out things with the disease, then we can all win," Sanchez said.
Sanchez is one of the 43 percent of patients who have lived for two years as part of the trial.
Novocure said one European glioblastoma patient has survived with the device for nine years.