United Blood Services of Las Vegas has recently announced the availability of the new treatment available for fighting cancer. It is the Dendreon Corporation’s Provenge (R) cancer treatment.

This new treatment is being offered at the West Charleston Blvd. facility. They have specifially re-configuered a collection roomto collect the white blood cells, through apheresis, from patients with prostate cancer. The entire process is conducted under the supervision of Dr. Beata Kwiatkowska and Dr. Matthew Coleman.

They are assisted by a staff of specially trained medical technicans. Then the collected white blood cells are flown the same day directly to the Dendreon facility in New Jersey for manufacturing into the Provenge product. The new mix is then flown back to Las Vegas and reinfused into the patient 2-3 days after the the initial collection.

This process is done a total of three times. There is a two week rest period between each session.

Provenge is one of a new class of drugs which uses a person’s own immune system to fight an illness. Prostate cancer has the ability to hide from the body’s regular immune defenses. Provenge does its “supercharge” technique to the patients white blood cells and then targets them to specifically attack the cancer. The happy result is a longer, healthier lifespan for the patient.

– Tony Darnello

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