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Conquering Cancer with Personalized Cancer Treatment?
Today, cancer treatment is undergoing rapid evolution with path-breaking research and new discoveries. The advent of targeted therapy, Immunotherapy newer chemotherapy drugs and advances in surgical and radiation have converted cancer into a chronic disease and brought us closer to the desired goal of long-term cancer control or even cure. Today’s cancer treatment causes minimal impairment of quality of life, says Dr. Rahul Kulkarni, Medical Oncologist at Sahyadri Hospitals,Pune.
It is now proven that the best way of treating cancer is aMulti-disciplinary team (MDT)based management. The best cancer centres ensure that cancer care is only provided by the MDT comprising of Medical Oncologists, Surgical Oncologists, Radiation Oncologists, Pathologist, Interventional Radiologists and Palliative care specialists each providing their expertise so that the best, evidence-based, holistic, personalized and cost effective treatment plan can be offered to patients of any socio-economic strata.
Great advances in cancer biology and genetics have entirely changed the landscape of cancer treatment. Today common cancers like breast cancers, lung cancers, colon cancers, lymphomas have different subtypes determined by molecular analyses. This has lead to the beginning of new era of “personalized cancer therapy” wherein based on specific genetic expression, cancer can be treated with specific medications. With genetic sequencing techniques we can predict the probability of cure in subsets of patients and also determine need for chemotherapy which can help us to step-down and offer least intense cancer therapies to our patients with the same favourable outcome. Many of our patients are now on simple oral targeted therapies allowing them to perform all routine activities and even go to work. Newer chemotherapy drugs and advances in supportive care have largely reduced the much feared side effects of chemotherapy making it extremely safe if taken under guidance of Medical Oncologist. The common belief of our society that ‘cancer is incurable and cancer treatment is disabling’ leading to lack of faith and delay in seeking scientific evidence based therapy needs to change on urgent basis. Cancer is curable if detected early. Modern oncology and personalized cancer treatment can now help us in conquering cancer !!
For more information contact: Dr. Rahul Kulkarni (Oncologist, Sahyadri Super Speciality Hospital Hadapsar) on 8888822222
