Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center in Baltimore are exploring a new method of treating breast cancer that could benefit patients in the future.
The method involves delivering chemotherapeutic drugs through the nipple to treat early-stage breast cancers, and the technique appears to be effective at not only attacking tumors but also limiting side effects.
This is opposed to how chemotherapy is typically delivered--into the bloodstream, causing it to affect the patient systemically. This new method keeps much of the drug in the breast, where it can do its job against the tumors.
publishing their findings in the journal Science Translational Medicine, the researchers have tested the method mostly in the lab on rats, but 17 human patients have also received the promising treatment.
