A mind-boggling treatment for breast cancer can reportedly destroy tumors in just 11 days, according to scientists. Doctors used two existing cancer drugs Tyverb and Herceptin to stop cancer cells from multiplying.

In the trial of using the two drugs, the researchers found that 11 percent of the patients with HER2 positive cancer, an aggressive form of breast cancer were cleared of their tumoros. Meanwhile, 17 percent had smaller tumors and almost 90 percent had a reduced number of cancer cells.

For the trial, women were split into three groups. One group was given only Herceptin, another was given the comination of two drugs, Herceptin and Tyverb, and the third was given no treatment for 11 days.

The study, which was presented at the European Breast Cancer Conference in Amsterdam, stated that the powerful drug cocktail was particularly effective when the cancer had spread to the lymph nodes.

No More Chemotherapy in the Future?

Breast cancer patients responded to the cancer treatment so well that according to the researchers, chemotherapy treatment could be phased out in the future. However, women many still need to have surgery in order to be sure that there is no presence of the cancer left.

When the surgeons tried to operate on the tumors of the breast cancer patients, they were surprised to find that some of the lumps had disappeared in some women.

"For solid tumours to disappear in 11 days is unheard of. These are mind-boggling results," the study's leader Professor Nigel Bundred said, as reported by Daily Mail.

Further Trials Needed

Despite the staggering response of the women who got the combination drugs, the researchers say that further trials are needed as the experimentation was only a small one.

"We are pretty certain that we are not only getting tumour disappearance - we are getting an immune response as well," Prof. Bundred said. "These results are so staggering that I suspect that we will have to run another trial to prove that they are generalisable".

The researchers are unsure how the drug cocktail worked but it seemed like the combination of the drugs prevented the cancer cells from reproducing and boosted the body's immune system.

Additionally, bigger studies are needed because HER2 positive breast cancer is notorious for relapsing in patients.

"We would have to be very clear we're not taking a backwards step and increasing the risk of relapse," Prof. Judith Bliss of the Institute of Cancer Research in London said as reported by BBC.

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