US researchers report the first successful drug treatment of tumors in patients with neurofibromatosis type 2 (NF2). A Study that will be published "in the July 23 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine" found that "treatment with the angiogenesis inhibitor bevacizumab (Avastin) shrank vestibular schwannomas, improved hearing, and eased other symptoms in NF2 patients.
" The researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston tested "bevacizumab in 10 NF2 patients with vestibular schwannomas" and found that tumor "shrinkage occurred in nine patients, six of whom had a 20 percent or greater reduction in tumor size."