Chasing Life by Sanjay Gupta

Author:Sanjay Gupta [GUPTA, SANJAY]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: HEA000000
ISBN: 9780446195003
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Published: 2007-04-08T16:00:00+00:00

NEW TREATMENTS

For many cancers, doctors can now use targeted molecular therapies instead of or in combination with chemotherapy. Targeted molecular therapy attacks the chemical pathway unique to the cancer, interrupting the cancer’s ability to divide and grow. Targeted molecular therapies are “smart bombs” that stop the cancer’s spread with minimal collateral damage to the surrounding cells. Traditional chemotherapy is less discriminate. It destroys rapidly dividing cells—cancer cells—but can also damage other cells elsewhere, such as the intestinal lining and bone marrow.

A lymphoma-fighting drug called rituximab (Rituxan) was the first targeted molecular therapy to hit the market, in 1997. Others have followed for breast cancer, colon cancer, and others. A number of potential targeted molecular therapies are in clinical trials for many more cancers.

“These are home run hits,” Hassenbusch says, although a targeted therapy is not yet available for glioblastoma.

Quality of life has improved for most cancer patients, but for some the quantity of life after a cancer diagnosis remains about the same as it was when President Nixon declared war on the disease.

We cannot eliminate any chance of getting cancer, and as we get older, the odds of getting cancer increase. There are steps we can take to minimize our risks, though.

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