Hollings Horizons Winter/Spring 2026 - Magazine - Page 21
Research News
TRIPLE-NEGATIVE
BREAST CANCER
Hollings clinical trial to test
treatment options
A new clinical trial at MUSC Hollings Cancer Center focuses
on finding answers for a group of women who don’t have clear
treatment options.
Doctors follow a well-established treatment plan for women with
stage 2 or stage 3 triple-negative breast cancer: a combination
of five drugs, which shrinks or destroys the tumor in 65% of
women, and then surgery.
But women with heart problems can’t take one of the drugs –
Adriamycin, or the “red devil” – in the five-drug combination,
said breast cancer doctor Abi Siva, M.D. This leaves doctors on
their own to decide on the best treatment.
Siva wants to change that.
Instead of excluding breast cancer patients with heart problems
– which is how most clinical trials are set up – Siva developed
a trial especially for women with cardiomyopathy, a disease of
the heart muscle, and women who are at high risk of developing
heart problems because of the cancer drugs.
“
This is a practical struggle for our
state, so that’s why we thought this
would be a good idea.
“
hollingscancercenter.musc.edu
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