In 2014, Mr. S I, a 34-year-old graduate, gave up his job to become an Uber driver. The very next month he was diagnosed with a rare form of lung cancer called Alk positive adenocarcinoma which responds to an oral targeted therapy. The treatment being very expensive, he opted for chemotherapy and progressively became worse and had to give up his job. At that time, this treatment was available from the multinational company through a compassionate basis program. He procured it and did well. 2 years later the disease came back and spread to the brain as well. Mr. S I underwent brain irradiation with the latest machines and technique. He was however bedridden. A second oral targeted drug was now available for this disease and more potent than the first treatment. He is now back at work, albeit an office job. It’s been 5 years since the diagnosis of stage IV lung cancer. Like him, many others qualify for treatment with targeted therapies and DNA damaging agents and Immunotherapy.
Every June, over 34,000 Oncologists from all over the world come together at Chicago for the ASCO (American Society of Clinical Oncology) annual meeting. The latest breakthroughs and research in cancer are presented here. This year over 2,400 abstracts of cancer research were presented at the meeting covering almost all types of cancers.
There were several breakthroughs in various tumors. The role of Immunotherapy is now being studied to shrink lung tumors before surgery or to administer it after radiation in order to achieve better results. Immunotherapy for cancer is available in the form of drugs called checkpoint inhibitors, which stimulate the body’s own T cells to fight the tumor. They are available in India and are being used successfully to treat lung cancer, kidney cancer, bladder cancer, melanoma and even oral cancers.
There are several young women suffering from breast cancer. For the triple negative patients, Immunotherapy could help in almost 40% of them. In postmenopausal women who had been treated for breast cancer, a simple dietary modification of a balanced, low fat diet actually brought down the number of deaths due to cancer.
For more information contact: Dr. Shona Nag (Director – Department of Oncology, Sahyadri Hospitals) on 8888822222
