A protocol adopted by USP, in partnership with the Butantan Institute and the Blood Center of Ribeirão Preto, is bringing to the public health network a technique considered revolutionary in the fight against cancer, used in few countries. So far, 14 patients have been treated with CAR-T Cell with funding from FAPESP and CNPq, and all have had remission of at least 60% of the tumors. The recovery was in the Unified Health System (SUS).
One of them is Paulo Peregrino, 61 years old, who had been fighting cancer for 13 years and was about to receive palliative care when he underwent treatment in April and, in just one month, had complete remission of his lymphoma.
read more:
In the second semester, 75 patients should be treated with CAR-T Cell with public funds after Anvisa’s authorization for the clinical study. Currently, the treatment only exists in the Brazilian private network, at a cost of at least R$ 2 million per person.
The method targets three types of cancer: B-lymphoblastic leukemia, B-cell non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, and multiple myeloma, which affects the bone marrow. Treatment against multiple myeloma is not yet available in the country.
Paulo is the most recent case of complete remission in a short period of time in the study group with 14 patients from the Cell Therapy Center.
He was discharged on Sunday (28) after being under medical care at the Hospital das Clínicas in the city of São Paulo.
Vanderson Rocha, professor of hematology, blood therapy and cell therapy at the USP Medical School and national coordinator of cell therapy for the D’Or network, is in charge of Paulo’s case.
“It was a very quick response and with so much tumor. I get emotional [ao ver as duas ressonâncias de Paulo]. I was very surprised to see the answer, because we have to wait at least a month after the cell infusion. When we saw it, everyone cheered. I put him in the group of tenured professors at USP and everyone was impressed to see the response he got”, celebrated the specialist.
Among the other 13 patients treated like Paulo, 69% had complete remission within 30 days. The first patient treated with the technique in the public health system in Brazil had results similar to those of Paulo, but died from a domestic accident at home.
The two Pet Scan images (CT performed with a special contrast ) represent “two Paulos”: the one on the left, the patient whose only path was palliative care, when the alternative is to provide comfort, but with no expectation of a cure, and the one on the right, a patient with an organism already free of tumors after treatment with CAR-T Cell.
.jpg "Cancer patient has complete remission 1 month after 'revolutionary' technique 5")
Currently, the procedure at the Cell Therapy Center is done in a compassionate way, when the study accepts the patient in an advanced stage of the disease, and the doctors obtain authorization from Anvisa for the application of the method.
When the doctor had contact with Paulo, the publicist had already undergone surgical procedures, dozens of tests and chemotherapy.
With information from G1
