Blood Pressure Drugs May Lengthen Lives of Melanoma Patients

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ScienceDaily (Sep. 22, 2011) — Beta-blocker drugs, commonly used to treat high blood pressure, may also play a major role in slowing the progression of certain serious cancers, based on a new study.

A review of thousands of medical records in the Danish Cancer Registry showed that patients with the skin cancer melanoma, and who also were taking a specific beta-blocker, had much lower mortality rates than did patients not taking the drug.

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"Among patients diagnosed with melanoma, those who were taking beta-blockers when their cancer was diagnosed experienced longer survival than those patients who weren't taking the drug," Lemeshow said.

"Their chance of surviving for a specified number of years improved by 13 percent."

When the researcher looked at all causes of death among melanoma patients -- not just melanoma -- their chances of survival were improved by 19 percent.

"We're talking about survival time, here. They simply lived longer."

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"That's what has us so excited," Glaser explained. "This drug is relatively inexpensive. It isn't chemotherapy so you don't lose your hair or get sick. It doesn't kill the cancer cells, but it may slow the disease.

"This would be adjunct therapy that could be provided in

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