Safer chemo, thanks to Israeli math
A new study explains why certain patients develop severe infections after chemotherapy and suggests how to avoid this side effect.
Waning white blood-cell counts in chemotherapy patients are commonly taken as a warning of an increased risk of infection.
Now, a new Israeli study suggests that it is critical to evaluate not only the quantity of these “neutrophil” blood cells essential to immunity against infection, but also their quality, which varies from one patient to another.
The new model for evaluating infection risk comes out of research by Weizmann Institute of Science mathematicians in collaboration with physicians from the Meir Medical Center in Kfar Saba and the Hoffmann-La Roche research center in Basel, Switzerland.
Their research, recently published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, may represent an important step in the emerging field of personalized medicine, leading to a more individualized approach to chemotherapy.