New FDA-approved device to help patients battling pancreatic cancer
Doctors say the new wearable device, called "Optune Pax," shows progress in treating pancreatic cancer.
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Three years after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, Jeneen Genna, from East Islip, says the new FDA-approved device to treat pancreatic cancer will help people struggling to survive.
"Any treatment that can extend survival with minimal side effects should be celebrated, ” she said.
Dr. Aaron Sasson is an oncologist specializing in pancreatic cancer, and says the device is helpful, but it is by no means a cure.
"An electrical box on your body delivering little shocks, you can't feel it per say, might be irritating to the skin, and directed towards the tumor,” said Dr. Sasson, director of the Stony Brook Pancreatic Cancer Center. “The average patient who had the device and chemotherapy lived 16 months and the average patient who just had chemotherapy without the device lived 14 months."
The study shows patients using the device also reported less pain from the cancer.
Dr. Sasson says you must wear the device 18 hours a day in conjunction with chemotherapy.
He says he will start offering it to patients as an option for treatment.
The American Cancer Society says the current five year-survival rate for pancreatic cancer is 13%.
