The gradual understanding of the immune system, genetics, and cancer pathology steadily improves cancer treatment options and discovers novel diagnostic tools.
The cancer survival rate is significantly improving because of the availability of early diagnostic tools and advanced treatment modalities.
Surgical intervention
Surgical interventions become refine through using targeted medicines and other treatment modalities before and after surgery improves cancer patient outcomes.
Cancer treatment continues to emerge for better treatment outcomes.
Different research studies are comparing the outcomes of different surgical interventions and their long-term effects.
Thus the findings of these study analyses help clinicians to decide the selection of techniques for specific cancer, stage, and patient condition.
Lobectomy for lung cancer [Video-Assisted Thoracoscopic Surgery (VATS)]
Surgical removal of a part of a lung lobe because of invasion of cancer is termed lobectomy.
Using of VATS in lobectomy is new advancement of medical science that leads to minimal invasion techniques.
Using VATS requires a short recovery period than open lung surgery.
However, both procedures are conducted under general anesthesia.
Doctors prefer to perform VATS lobectomy for early-stage lung cancer.
In VATS, a thoracoscope is used for camera-guided surgery.
A thoracoscope is a small tube with a light and camera attached to the end.
During the procedure, this tube is inserted through a small incision made between the ribs.
Then, a special tool uses to remove cancer-affected lung tissue.
Cervical cancer surgery
A clinical trial was conducted on 631 women from 2008 to 2013 for comparing the efficacy between minimally invasive surgery and open surgery for cervical cancer treatment.
The study findings reported that the quality of care for both groups was similar, but open surgery reduced the recurrence rate.
Genetic sequencing (MinION) during surgery
Four chemical bases of DNA are revealed through DNA sequencing.
Sequencing of DNA is essential to estimate the DNA mutation.
Genetic mutation in a cancer cell is common pathophysiology for every cancer.
MinION is a portable, long-read sequencing platform discovered by Oxford Nanopore able to real-time detection of cancer cells during surgery.
Radiotherapy
In cancer treatment, radiation therapy is used for decades. But targeted radiotherapy is a novel invention that uses for more effective results with minimal side effects.
Stereotactic Ablative Radiotherapy (SABR) for Metastatic Cancer
A research result reported that inclusion of SABR along with standard treatment improves survival rate than patients who are under standard palliative care.
SABR was also applied as an alternative treatment for lung cancer patients who were unable to conduct a surgical intervention.
Immunotherapy
Immunotherapy triggers the immune functioning of the body to fight against cancer.
Molecular testing is performed to select the best possible immunotherapy for the individual patient.
Some vaccines like sipuleucel-T got the official approval for prostate cancer. Some recently discovered immunotherapies are as follows:
- Monoclonal antibodies like Trodelvy for metastatic breast cancer.
- Oncolytic virus therapy like Imlygic for melanoma
- CAR T-cell therapy like CD22 for acute lymphoblastic leukemia relapse
- Cancer vaccines like Provenge for prostate cancer
Targeted Therapy
Targeted therapy is when drugs are bind with specific proteins or genes to restrict the cancer cell growth. Targeted therapy directly attacks cancer cell growth. Targeted therapies for lung cancer are osimertinib, erlotinib, and gefitinib and for breast cancer targeted therapies are ado-trastuzumab, lapatinib, and everolimus.
Combination Therapies
In certain cases, doctors prefer to use a combination of two forms of cancer therapy in conjunction.
In this treatment approach, a combination of traditional chemotherapy with newer classes of drugs provides better treatment outcomes.
Recently use combination therapy example is Tecentriq and Avastin in the treatment of liver cancer.
Diagnostics
Following are some better diagnostic and screening techniques used currently. Some next-generation technologies are in pipeline that will be launched soon.
- Artificial Intelligence Mammograms can detect breast cancer in an advanced fashion.
- Liquid Biopsy for breast cancer is a useful technique to detect cell-free DNA (cfDNA) and circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA).
- Patients with external lung lesions may get benefits from Monarch Robotic Endoscopy for Lung Cancer before the incorporation of surgery, radiation, targeted therapies, or immunotherapy.
- Genomic Cancer Screening in Embryos is a useful tool to accurately distinguish which person in a set of siblings will inherit a medical condition. The accuracy of this tool is lies between 70% and 90%.
At-Home Urine Test for Prostate Cancer is a useful tool to detect extracellular vesicle-derived RNA to provide prognostic information for men under active surveillance for prostate cancer.
Ongoing cancer research brings novel technologies for better treatments and diagnostic tools.
Every year new cancer treatments and diagnosis processes are studied and officially approved for better treatment outcomes, survival, and remission. Cancer treatment support group helps cancer patients to boost their mental well-being and resilience.
