From the first moment my wife discovered
she had breast cancer, there was a deafening silence from the men I know. Even
ones whose wives, mothers or girlfriends had breast cancer seemed to have
received a gag order from some Central Cancer Command and did little more than
mumble about the experience. Not one to shut up for any known reason, I started
this blog…
Every month, I’ll be highlighting breast
cancer research that is going on RIGHT NOW! Harvested from different websites,
journals and podcasts, I’ll translate them into understandable English and
share them with you. Today: Ketoprofen…
Everyone know what
NSAIDS are…right?
Non-Steroidal
Anti-Inflammatory Drugs, right?
Ibuprofen?
Naproxen?
Aleve? Advil?
Motrin?
Ah! Now you got
it! The family of drugs we call “aspirin” and lump together with the original aspirin,
Tylenol, and the ones I just mentioned above are all over-the-counter drugs
most of us take when we ache. (Hey! That sounds like a slogan!) This chart pretty
much covers all of them: https://image.slidesharecdn.com/rhemutoidarthritis-150806083338-lva1-app6891/95/rhemutoid-arthritis-21-638.jpg?cb=1438850086
At any rate, a research
team started wondering about what EXACTLY lymphedema is. There is NO KNOWN CURE
for the condition, just “treatments” ranging from wearing compression garments
for the rest of your life, to limb massage for the rest of your life.
Oh, and throw in, “If
you fly, you HAVE to wear your compression sleeve” (implying that catastrophic
consequences result if you don’t. I always had the impression that they were
trying to tell you that if you didn’t wear it, you’d swell up like Veruca Salt,
who didn’t listen to Willie Wonka, ate the candy…and blew up like a MONSTROUS
blueberry!)
Current research
however, while they emphasize that it’s not a cure, there may now be an actual treatment
that reduces lymphedema swelling.
An initial pair of
studies were performed at Stanford University in Californina in 2011 and
written up in the American Society for Clinical Investigation in March of 2018.
“Because ketoprofen, an NSAID, has been therapeutic in experimental lymphedema,
we evaluated its efficacy in humans.”
What they found
was that “The ketoprofen recipients demonstrated reduced skin thickness, as
well as improved composite measures of histopathology and decreased plasma
granulocyte CSF (G-CSF) expression. These 2 exploratory studies together
support the utility of targeted anti-inflammatory therapy with ketoprofen in
patients with lymphedema. Our results highlight the promise of such approaches
to help restore a failing lymphatic circulation.”
So, as I have done
in the past, what does all of this mean?
“…demonstrated
reduced skin thickness” – one of the problems with lymphedema is that it causes
changes in the skin: “…cellulitis may cause the limb to become red, hot,
painful and swollen…pitting or non-pitting edema…when a mark is left in the
skin by applying pressure from a finger, hand or object…hyperkeratosis is an
overgrowth of the skin like a very thick callus…or papillomas…raised wart-like
growths…skin can become hardened with a leathery feel. The color of the skin
can become darker with a brownish tint.”
Also, “improved
composite measures of histopathology and decreased plasma granulocyte CSF
(G-CSF) expression.”
What’s it mean? “improved
histopathology” is a decrease in the “sickness” of the cells in the limb with
lymphedema, as well as a decrease of “…leukocytes [which are the “formed
elements” of blood, like red blood cells and platelets] but only the leukocytes
can leave the blood stream through the walls of capillaries and venules and
enter either connective or lymphoid tissues.”
The leukocytes are
“a colorless cells that circulate in the blood and body fluids and are involved
in counteracting foreign substances and disease; a white (blood) cell. There
are several types, all amoeboid cells with a nucleus, including lymphocytes,
granulocytes, monocytes, and macrophages.” In other words, when you get a cut,
the leukocytes are there to fight the infection, and it gets red and swollen
while they’re doing their work.
It also hurts like
Hades.
That’s what these
researchers have discovered that is happening in lymphedema – the body responds
by sending leukocytes and you get swelling.
Ketoprofens
apparently REDUCE the swelling caused by the leukocytes trying their darndest
to defeat the infection…while at the same time causing the swelling of the limb
identified.
There’s no CURRENT
treatment that I can find, but you can count on me keeping an eye out for the
use of ketoprofen in the future!
Resources: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30333315,
https://www.healio.com/hematology-oncology/breast-cancer/news/online/%7B38f48883-cdc4-4a3e-a3a8-85dc648a21c5%7D/ketoprofen-a-huge-step-forward-for-treatment-of-lymphedema-symptoms,
https://med.stanford.edu/profiles/stanley-rockson?tab=publications
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