Study: Drug Combination Shrinks Tumors In Breast Cancer Patients

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MIAMI (CBSMiami) -- A new combination of drugs shrunk or eliminated tumors in women with breast cancer in 11 days, a new study says.

The study -presented at the 10th European Breast Cancer Conference on Thursday- says the combination of lapatinib and trastuzumab (Herceptin) before surgery shrinks and in some cases destroys tumors in women with the HER2 positive disease.

Researchers studied 257 women with breast cancer in the short gap between the initial diagnosis and surgery to get rid of the tumors.

The results of the study may mean that fewer women would need chemotherapy.

The study was led by researchers at The Institute of Cancer Research, London, the University of Manchester and University Hospital of South Manchester NHS Foundation Trust.