I’ve halted my own brain cancer, says doctor
A DOCTOR says he has been free of brain cancer for a year after a world-first treatment based on his own breakthrough research.
Professor Richard Scolyer was diagnosed with an incurable grade 4 glioblastoma last year. The average survival rate for such an aggressive cancer is around 12 months.
But Prof Scolyer, 57, underwent an experimental therapy based on his work on melanoma, a skin cancer.
And this week he said a brain scan showed there was no recurrence, adding: “I couldn’t be happier”.
Prof Scolyer collaborated with his colleague and friend Professor Georgina Long, both co-directors of the Melanoma Institute Australia. The team used a treatment based on immunotherapy, which teaches the body’s immune system to attack cancer cells.
Research on melanoma showed immunotherapy works better when a combination of drugs is used before surgery to remove a tumour.
Prof Scolyer became the first brain cancer patient to use pre-surgery immunotherapy treatment.
He said: “I’m the best I have felt for yonks. It certainly doesn’t mean that my brain cancer is cured... but it’s just nice to know that it hasn’t come back yet, so I’ve still got some more time to enjoy my life with my wife Katie and my three wonderful kids.”
Around 300,000 people worldwide are thought to have glioblastoma.
The hope is this treatment will extend Prof Scolyer’s life and open the door to clinical trials for others.
Prof Long said: “We’ve generated a whole heap of data, to then make a foundation for that next step, so that we can help more people. We’re not there yet.
“What we have to really focus on is showing that this pre-surgery, combination immunotherapy type of approach works in a large number of people.”