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Antidepressant Drugs May Help Brain Tumour Patients Live Longer

Posted on: Wednesday, 17 August 2005, 06:00 CDT

Antidepressant drugs could be used to help patients with brain tumours live longer, researchers said yesterday. A small study of 27 brain tumour sufferers found that the drug Clomipramine appeared to improve quality of life and extend survival times.

The researchers, from the University of Portsmouth, now want to extend their study to cover a much larger group.

Geoff Pilkington, head of cellular and molecular neuro-oncology, said, 'The incidence of primary brain tumours has risen at an alarming level over the past few decades and these tumours generally bring with them a very poor prognosis.'

Clomipramine, known as a tricyclic antidepressant, has been use for more than 30 years.

The Cellular and Molecular Neuro-oncology Research Group at Portsmouth started their trial, monitoring 27 patients over 18 months after the success of anecdotal studies.

The patients, aged between 16 and 65, were given Clomipramine along with the standard treatment for their tumour.

The researchers found that 21 patients (80.8%) experienced improved quality of life and an increased survival rate, which could be as much as several years.

Some of the patients had previously been given as little as two months to live.

Five patients (19.2%) saw their disease progress while on the medication.

Source: Western Mail

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