Will There Ever Be a Cure for Cancer... ?

Cancer remains one of the most common causes of sickness and death in the world, with most of us facing around a 40% chance of getting some form of cancer in our lifetime. The continued research into the disease has yielded some fantastic and truly ground breaking treatments over the past few decades, but there’s never been a definitive ‘cure’ developed. Will there ever be?

There are so many different types of cancer, and there has been significant improvement in the treatment of many of these different areas. An increasing number of patients are being diagnosed and treated effectively year on year, largely thanks to improved screening and improvements in the kinds of treatment available to patients. 
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Exciting new areas such as personalized treatment could help to massively improve treatment and survival rates. Treatment will be tailored to each individual based on their own tumour and based on molecular markers of the cancer, and this approach removes a lot of the ‘trial and error’ approach to drug use and treatment therapies. Consultants will have a better idea of which approaches will be most effective in each individual case, and this should allow for more effective treatment for patients.

Professor Justin Stebbing, one of the leading consultant oncologists in the UK, has discussed the potential benefits of immunotherapy drugs on cancer treatment. This area is one that doctors are increasingly enthusiastic about, and really fits in with the proposed ‘individualised treatment’ approach which is seen as the future of medicine. Unlike a ‘one drug fits all’ approach to cancer treatment like chemotherapy this approach encourages the body to fight the cancer on its own, and it’s increasingly believed that this method could become the backbone of some cancer treatment in the coming years.

Unfortunately it’s not quite at the stage where it’s effective for all cancers. The treatment of some common cancers like lung cancer, breast cancer may involve immunotherapy to a degree, but it’s still at the stage where the right combination of drugs and therapy are yet to be found.

Overall, cancer treatment is progressing rapidly. It’s unlikely that there will be a single ‘cure’ for cancer in the near future, but current medical science suggests that survival rates should increase. There’s also the fact that many cancers will become more manageable, much like diabetes or similar conditions, in the coming years rather than cured entirely.

It’s an exciting time for cancer research, and some of the potential treatments which will be available in the future are incredible. 

Hopefully one day soon cancer won’t be viewed in quite the same light as it is today.

#StayHealthy

Guest Post By: Rosie (London Oncology Clinic)

Thursday, March 05, 2015