SGPGI develops new economical therapy for gallbladder cancer patients with better results

New Delhi: The SGPGI Lucknow has developed a new treatment regimen for gallbladder cancer patients, which could nearly double their life expectancy while costing a fraction of the expensive immunotherapy, according to a study published in an international medical journal.

Professor Sushma Agrawal of the Radiotherapy Department at Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences (SGPGI) led a five-year study examining the effects of altering conventional chemotherapy by adding radiotherapy in 140 patients with localised gallbladder cancer who were not suitable for surgical intervention.

"Gallbladder cancer is the third most prevalent cancer among women in Northern India, along the Indo-Gangetic plains from Kashmir to the northeast," Agrawal told PTI.

She said that while only 10 per cent of patients in the early stages can undergo surgery, the remaining 90 per cent -- 50 per cent with metastatic cancer with the disease spread in different organs, and 40 per cent with locally advance cancer where the disease has reached adjacent organs but not spread in body -- ”are typically treated with chemotherapy.

She said that traditional chemotherapy offers an average lifespan of 8 to 9 months, while expensive immunotherapy can add just an additional month on an average.

"In a government setting, the cost of immunotherapy course can range from Rs 18 to 20 lakhs, whereas at SGPGI, the cost for six weeks of chemotherapy and radiotherapy is approximately Rs 30,000, which has shown superior results," she added.

Agrawal explored the potential of combining radiotherapy with chemotherapy for patients who come with "localised gallbladder cancer" and had completed four cycles of traditional chemotherapy.

She gave them six weeks of radiation therapy combined with a different set of chemo medication and studied the disease for nearly five years in 140 patients.

The results were striking as 80 per cent of the patients responded positively to the treatment with varying degrees of improvement, she said.

The average life expectancy improved from eight months to a median of 13 months, according to the findings published in the International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology, Physics.

The median, a more precise measure than the average, represents the middle value of data sorted in ascending or descending order.

The findings of the first-of-its-kind study were also shared in a poster session at the American Society of Clinical Oncology's annual meeting in Chicago last year, she said.

The primary risk factors for gallbladder cancer include water contamination, obesity, and consumption of contaminated mustard oil and overcooked oil, Agrawal said.

She said there was also the significant link between large gallbladder stones and the disease, underscoring the importance of pathological evaluation of the gallbladder post-removal for early detection.

"This research establishes chemotherapy followed by chemoradiation as the new standard of care for advanced, non-metastatic gallbladder cancer. It should be considered an alternative to costly immunotherapy, which provides limited benefits and imposes significant financial strain in a developing country like India," Agrawal said.