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New Cap Improves Glioblastoma Patients’ Survival Rates

by (WMFE)
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Doctors in Florida are using a special skull cap called Optune and electric currents to treat patients with an aggressive form of brain cancer. Photo: Flickr Creative Commons

Doctors in Florida are using a special skull cap called Optune and electric currents to treat patients with an aggressive form of brain cancer. Photo: Flickr Creative Commons

Doctors in Florida are using a special skull cap called Optune and electricity to treat patients with an aggressive form of brain cancer called glioblastoma. Optune uses low intensity, electric current to slow the growth of rapidly multiplying cancer cells.

If used in conjunction with chemotherapy, it can improve two year survival rates in some patients and double five year survival rates.

Currently the five-year survival rate for glioblastoma, the brain cancer Sen. John McCain was diagnosed with, is around 5 percent.

Optune is in early phase testing as treatment for lung, breast, ovarian and pancreatic cancers.

If you’d like to listen to the full story, please click on the clip above.


WMFE is a partner with Health News Florida, a statewide collaborative reporting on health care.

Health reporting on WMFE is supported in part by AdventHealth.

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Danielle Prieur

About Danielle Prieur

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Danielle Prieur grew up listening to her grandfather’s stories of swimming across the Detroit River from Canada and many other adventures. She’s been into storytelling ever since. She studied writing at the University of Michigan. She trained in public radio at WDET’s Detroit newsroom, and is really excited ... Read Full Bio »

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