3 ms·

A Turning Point in Cancer

• barry-cotter 4y ago
  > The narrative has been incubating for many years, but in recent days we are witnessing some extraordinary progress in treating and monitoring cancer. The convergence of genomics of the cancer—be it from the person’s DNA or tumor directly or the blood (known as liquid biopsy)—matched with the appropriate therapy is leading to outcomes that are being described as “unheard-of” by expert oncologists. This represents the essence of individualized medicine, whereby understanding the unique biologic basis of a person’s cancer can lead to highly accurate and effective treatment, and also avoid the toxicity of classical chemotherapeutic agents. Here I will review 4 recent studies, all published in the last week, and a new screening test that has become available.
• d13 4y ago
  In a matter of a few short weeks I went from a “huh, what’s this?” routine checkup at my GP, to a diagnosis of aggressive stage 3 metasatic melanoma. A few years ago this would have been untreatable and possibly a death sentence. But I’m on a new immunotherapy treatment, pembrolizumab, which gives an me an almost 100% chance of full remission. My treatment is completely covered by the NHS, but, if it weren’t, or I didn’t have absolute top tier medical insurance, I would have had to come up with about $100,000 to cover the costs. I’ve had perfect health my entire life - regular exercise, good diet, non-smoker etc. and had never set foot inside a hospital before. This could happen to anyone, at any time.