Is there any cancer treatments?
Cancer in dogs
Treatment options vary and depend on the type and stage of cancer. Common treatments include surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, amputation, and immunotherapy. A combination of therapies may be used. Knowledge and treatment of cancer have increased significantly in the past three decades. Survival rates have also increased due to the increase prevalence of canine cancer treatment centers and breakthroughs in targeted drug development. Canine cancer treatment has become an accepted clinical practice and access to treatment for owners has widely expanded recently. Cancer-targeting drugs most commonly function to inhibit excessive cell proliferation by attacking the replicating cells. However, there is still a prevalent pharmacy gap in veterinary oncology.
Parthanatos
Another path for treatments is to recruit the parthanatos pathway to induce cancer cells into apoptosis, however no treatments have passed the theoretical stage.
Cancer
Laser therapy uses high-intensity light to treat cancer by shrinking or destroying tumors or precancerous growths. Lasers are most commonly used to treat superficial cancers that are on the surface of the body or the lining of internal organs. It is used to treat basal cell skin cancer and the very early stages of others like cervical, penile, vaginal, vulvar, and non-small cell lung cancer. It is often combined with other treatments, such as surgery, chemotherapy, or radiation therapy. Laser-induced interstitial thermotherapy (LITT), or interstitial laser photocoagulation, uses lasers to treat some cancers using hyperthermia, which uses heat to shrink tumors by damaging or killing cancer cells. Laser are more precise than surgery and cause less damage, pain, bleeding, swelling, and scarring. A disadvantage is surgeons must have specialized training. It may be more expensive than other treatments.
Cancer survival rates
The improvement in survival rates for many cancers in the last half century is due to improved understanding about the causes of cancer and the availability of new treatment options, which are continually evolving. Where surgery was previously the only option for treatment, cancer is now treated with radiation and chemotherapy, including combination chemotherapy that favors treatment with many drugs over just one. Availability and access to clinical trials has also lead to more targeted therapy and improved knowledge of treatment efficacy. There are currently over 60,000 clinical trials related to cancer registered on ClinicalTrials.gov, so novel approaches to cancer treatment are continuing to be developed. The NCI lists over 100 targeted therapies that have been approved for the treatment of 26 different cancer types by the United States Food and Drug Administration.
North York General Hospital
The Cancer Program provides treatment for many types of cancers, including breast, colon, prostate, gynecological and urinary.
Epigenetic therapy
The DNMT inhibitors 5-azacytidine and 5-aza-20-deoxycytidine mentioned above have both been approved by the FDA for the treatment of various forms of cancer. These drugs have been shown to reactivate the cellular antitumor systems repressed by the cancer, enabling the body to weaken the tumor. Zebularine, an activator of a demethylation enzyme has also been used with some success. Because of their wide ranging effects throughout the entire organism, all of these drugs have major side effects, but survival rates are increased significantly when they are used for treatment.
Endometrial cancer
There are several experimental therapies for endometrial cancer under research, including immunologic, hormonal, and chemotherapeutic treatments. Trastuzumab (Herceptin), an antibody against the Her2 protein, has been used in cancers known to be positive for the Her2/neu oncogene, but research is still underway. Immunologic therapies are also under investigation, particularly in uterine papillary serous carcinoma.
Cancers can be analyzed using genetic techniques (including DNA sequencing and immunohistochemistry) to determine if certain therapies specific to mutated genes can be used to treat it. PARP inhibitors are used to treat endometrial cancer with PTEN mutations, specifically, mutations that lower the expression of PTEN. The PARP inhibitor shown to be active against endometrial cancer is olaparib. Research is ongoing in this area as of the 2010s.
Research is ongoing on the use of metformin, a diabetes medication, in obese women with endometrial cancer before surgery. Early research has shown it to be effective in slowing the rate of cancer cell proliferation. Preliminary research has shown that preoperative metformin administration can reduce expression of tumor markers. Long-term use of metformin has not been shown to have a preventative effect against developing cancer, but may improve overall survival.
Temsirolimus, an mTOR inhibitor, is under investigation as a potential treatment. Research shows that mTOR inhibitors may be particularly effective for cancers with mutations in PTEN. Ridaforolimus (deforolimus) is also being researched as a treatment for people who have previously had chemotherapy. Preliminary research has been promising, and a stage II trial for ridaforolimus was completed by 2013. There has also been research on combined ridaforolimus/progestin treatments for recurrent endometrial cancer. Bevacizumab and tyrosine kinase inhibitors, which inhibit angiogenesis, are being researched as potential treatments for endometrial cancers with high levels of vascular endothelial growth factor. Ixabepilone is being researched as a possible chemotherapy for advanced or recurrent endometrial cancer. Treatments for rare high-grade undifferentiated endometrial sarcoma are being researched, as there is no established standard of care yet for this disease. Chemotherapies being researched include doxorubicin and ifosfamide.
There is also research in progress on more genes and biomarkers that may be linked to endometrial cancer. The protective effect of combined oral contraceptives and the IUD is being investigated. Preliminary research has shown that the levonorgestrel IUD placed for a year, combined with 6 monthly injections of gonadotropin-releasing hormone, can stop or reverse the progress of endometrial cancer in young women. An experimental drug that combines a hormone with doxorubicin is also under investigation for greater efficacy in cancers with hormone receptors. Hormone therapy that is effective in treating breast cancer, including use of aromatase inhibitors, is also being investigated for use in endometrial cancer. One such drug is anastrozole, which is currently being researched in hormone-positive recurrences after chemotherapy. Research into hormonal treatments for endometrial stromal sarcomas is ongoing as well. It includes trials of drugs like mifepristone, a progestin antagonist, and aminoglutethimide and letrozole, two aromatase inhibitors.
Research continues into the best imaging method for detecting and staging endometrial cancer. In surgery, research has shown that complete pelvic lymphadenectomy along with hysterectomy in stage 1 endometrial cancer does not improve survival and increases the risk of negative side effects, including lymphedema. Other research is exploring the potential of identifying the sentinel lymph nodes for biopsy by injecting the tumor with dye that shines under infrared light. Intensity modulated radiation therapy is currently under investigation, and already used in some centers, for application in endometrial cancer, to reduce side effects from traditional radiotherapy. Its risk of recurrence has not yet been quantified. Research on hyperbaric oxygen therapy to reduce side effects is also ongoing. The results of the PORTEC 3 trial assessing combining adjuvant radiotherapy with chemotherapy were awaited in late 2014.
Cancer
The improved understanding of molecular biology and cellular biology due to cancer research has led to new treatments for cancer since US President Richard Nixon declared the "War on Cancer" in 1971. Since then, the country has spent over $200 billion on cancer research, including resources from public and private sectors. The cancer death rate (adjusting for size and age of the population) declined by five percent between 1950 and 2005.
Experimental cancer treatment
High-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) is still in investigatory phases in many places around the world. In China it has CFDA approval and over 180 treatment centres have been established in China, Hong Kong, and Korea. HIFU has been successfully used to treat cancer to destroy tumours of the bone, brain, breast, liver, pancreas, rectum, kidney, testes, and prostate. Several thousand patients have been treated with various types of tumours. HIFU has CE approval for palliative care for bone metastasis. Experimentally, palliative care has been provided for cases of advanced pancreatic cancer. High-energy therapeutic ultrasound could increase higher-density anti-cancer drug load and nanomedicines to target tumor sites by 20x fold higher than traditional target cancer therapy.
Interventional oncology
Interventional oncology procedures are commonly applied to treat primary or metastatic cancer. Interventional oncology may be offered once traditional surgery, chemotherapy or radiotherapy have failed or are not considered safe. IO treatments may be also offered in combination with any of the above oncological therapies in order to augment the therapeutic outcome in more complex or widespread (metastatic) cancer cases. There is an increase in the variety of applications of interventional oncological treatments for primary and metastatic cancer in different human body organs:Interventional oncology procedures are generally divided between diagnostic procedures that help obtain tissue diagnosis of suspicious neoplasms and therapeutic ones that aim to cure or palliate the tumour. Therapeutic interventional oncology procedures may be classified further into ablation techniques that destroy neoplastic tissues by delivery of some form of heat, cryo or electromagnetic energy and embolization techniques that aim to occlude the blood vessels feeding the tumour and thereby destroy it by means of ischemia. Both ablation and embolization techniques are minimally invasive treatment, i.e. they may be delivered through the skin (in a percutaneous way) without the need for any skin incisions or other form of open surgery. Hence, most treatments are nowadays offered as day case or outpatient appointments and patients may enjoy rapid recovery and minimal pain and discomfort with low rates of complications.
War on Cancer
A major challenge in cancer treatment is to find better ways to specifically target tumors with drugs and chemotherapeutic agents in order to provide a more effective, localized dose and to minimize exposure of healthy tissue in other parts of the body to the potentially adverse effects of the treatments. The accessibility of different tissues and organs to anti-tumor drugs contributes to this challenge. For example, the blood–brain barrier blocks many drugs that may otherwise be effective against brain tumors. In November 2009, a new, experimental therapeutic approach for treating glioblastoma was published in which the anti-tumor drug Avastin was delivered to turmor site within the brain through the use of microcatheters, along with mannitol to temporarily open the blood–brain barrier permitting delivery of the chemotherapy into the brain.
Cancer immunotherapy
Unlike type I IFNs, Interferon gamma is not approved yet for the treatment of any cancer.However, improved survival was observed when Interferon gamma was administrated to patients with bladder carcinoma and melanoma cancers. The most promising result was achieved in patients with stage 2 and 3 of ovarian carcinoma.The "in vitro" study of IFN-gamma in cancer cells is more extensive and results indicate anti-proliferative activity of IFN-gamma leading to the growth inhibition or cell death, generally induced by apoptosis but sometimes by autophagy.
Treatment of cancer
Examples of surgical procedures for cancer include mastectomy for breast cancer, prostatectomy for prostate cancer, and lung cancer surgery for non-small cell lung cancer. The goal of the surgery can be either the removal of only the tumor, or the entire organ. A single cancer cell is invisible to the naked eye but can regrow into a new tumor, a process called recurrence. For this reason, the pathologist will examine the surgical specimen to determine if a margin of healthy tissue is present, thus decreasing the chance that microscopic cancer cells are left in the patient.
Experimental cancer treatment
Epigenetics is the study of heritable changes in gene activity that are not caused by changes in the DNA sequence, often a result of environmental or dietary damage to the histone receptors within the cell. Current research has shown that epigenetic pharmaceuticals could be a putative replacement or adjuvant therapy for currently accepted treatment methods such as radiation and chemotherapy, or could enhance the effects of these current treatments. It has been shown that the epigenetic control of the proto-onco regions and the tumor suppressor sequences by conformational changes in histones directly affects the formation and progression of cancer. Epigenetics also has the factor of reversibility, a characteristic that other cancer treatments do not offer.
Telomerase
Immunotherapy successfully treats some kinds of cancer, such as melanoma. This treatment involves manipulating a human’s immune system to destroy cancerous cells. Humans have two major antigen identifying lymphocytes: CD8+ cytotoxic T-lymphocytes (CTL) and CD4+ helper T-lymphocytes that can destroy cells. Antigen receptors on CTL can bind to a 9-10 amino acid chain that is presented by the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) as in Figure 4. HTERT is a potential target antigen. Immunotargeting should result in relatively few side effects since hTERT expression is associated only with telomerase and is not essential in almost all somatic cells. GV1001 uses this pathway. Experimental drug and vaccine therapies targeting active telomerase have been tested in mouse models, and clinical trials have begun. One drug, imetelstat, is being clinically researched as a means of interfering with telomerase in cancer cells. Most of the harmful cancer-related effects of telomerase are dependent on an intact RNA template. Cancer stem cells that use an alternative method of telomere maintenance are still killed when telomerase's RNA template is blocked or damaged.
Swedish Covenant Hospital
Cancer treatments available at Swedish Covenant Hospital include tumor boards, chemotherapy, hormonal therapy, immunotherapy, radiation therapy and minimally invasive and robotic surgery.
Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital
Additionally in 2015, the hospital opened The Laurie Proton Therapy Center. Made possible thanks to a lead gift from the Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation as well as support from individual donors, it is currently home to the world’s third MEVION S250 Proton Therapy System. The center treats prostate, breast, lung, head and neck, brain, pediatric, pancreatic, and other cancers with what is currently considered to be the most precise form of cancer treatment. Instead of using conventional radiation therapy go destroy cancer cells, proton therapy uses a beam of protons that can be aimed directly at tumors. There is less damage to surrounding tissue, and doctors can use a higher dose of radiation than conventional therapy. The treatment is painless, has mild side effects, and has minimal risk. Proton therapy is part of a comprehensive range of advanced cancer treatment options offered by RWJ in partnership with Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey (CINJ), Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and private physicians in the community.
Cancer
A variety of therapies using immunotherapy, stimulating or helping the immune system to fight cancer, have come into use since 1997. Approaches include antibodies, checkpoint therapy and adoptive cell transfer.
Gene therapy
The modified cancer gene therapy strategy of antisense IGF-I RNA (NIH n˚ 1602) using antisense / triple helix anti-IGF-I approach was registered in 2002 by Wiley gene therapy clinical trial - n˚ 635 and 636. The approach has shown promising results in the treatment of six different malignant tumors: glioblastoma, cancers of liver, colon, prostate, uterus, and ovary (Collaborative NATO Science Programme on Gene Therapy USA, France, Poland n˚ LST 980517 conducted by J. Trojan) (Trojan et al., 2012). This anti-gene antisense/triple helix therapy has proven to be efficient, due to the mechanism stopping simultaneously IGF-I expression on translation and transcription levels, strengthening anti-tumor immune and apoptotic phenomena.
Neutron capture therapy of cancer
Neutron capture therapy (NCT) is a noninvasive therapeutic modality for treating locally invasive malignant tumors such as primary brain tumors and recurrent head and neck cancer. Briefly summarized, it is a two-step procedure: "first", the patient is injected with a tumor-localizing drug containing the non-radioactive isotope boron-10 (B) that has a high propensity or cross section (σ) to capture slow neutrons. The cross section of the B is many times greater than that of the other elements present in tissues such as hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen. In the "second" step, the patient is radiated with epithermal neutrons, the source of which is either a nuclear reactor or, more recently, an accelerator. After losing energy as they penetrate tissue, the neutrons are absorbed by the capture agent, which subsequently emits high-energy charged particles that can selectively kill tumor cells that have taken up sufficient quantities of B.
Cervical cancer
Early stages (IB1 and IIA less than 4 cm) can be treated with radical hysterectomy with removal of the lymph nodes or radiation therapy. Radiation therapy is given as external beam radiotherapy to the pelvis and brachytherapy (internal radiation). Women treated with surgery who have high-risk features found on pathologic examination are given radiation therapy with or without chemotherapy to reduce the risk of relapse.
Larger early-stage tumors (IB2 and IIA more than 4 cm) may be treated with radiation therapy and cisplatin-based chemotherapy, hysterectomy (which then usually requires adjuvant radiation therapy), or cisplatin chemotherapy followed by hysterectomy. When cisplatin is present, it is thought to be the most active single agent in periodic diseases. Such addition of platinum-based chemotherapy to chemoradiation seems not only to improve survival but also reduces risk of recurrence in women with early stage cervical cancer (IA2-IIA).
Cancer immunotherapy
A wide range of cancers can be treated by various immunotherapy medicines that have been approved in many jurisdictions around the world.
History of cancer
Cancer patient treatment and studies were restricted to individual physicians' practices until World War II, when medical research centers discovered that there were large international differences in disease incidence. This insight drove national public health bodies to enable the compilation of health data across practices and hospitals, a process found in many countries today. The Japanese medical community observed that the bone marrow of victims of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was completely destroyed. They concluded that diseased bone marrow could also be destroyed with radiation, and this led to the development of bone marrow transplants for leukemia. Since World War II, trends in cancer treatment are to improve on a micro-level the existing treatment methods, standardize them, and globalize them to find cures through epidemiology and international partnerships.
Cancer Treatment Centers of America
Cancer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA), headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida, is a national, for-profit network of five comprehensive cancer care and research centers and three out patient care centers that serves cancer patients throughout the United States. CTCA follows an integrative approach to cancer care that uses conventional approaches like surgery, chemotherapy, radiation and immunotherapy to treat the cancer, while also offering integrative therapies to help manage side effects like pain, nausea, fatigue, lymphedema, malnutrition, depression and anxiety.
Adjuvant therapy
Adjuvant systemic therapy and radiotherapy are often given following surgery for many types of cancer, including colon cancer, lung cancer, pancreatic cancer, breast cancer, prostate cancer, and some gynaecological cancers. Some forms of cancer fail to benefit from adjuvant therapy, however. Such cancers include renal cell carcinoma, and certain forms of brain cancer.
Fertiprotekt
As a result of today’s significantly improved prognosis for patients with cancer, quality of life is increasingly important after overcoming treatment of the disease. Fears about fertility preservation play an important role for young men and women. The most common types of cancer diagnosed under the age of 40 years are breast cancer, melanoma, cervical cancer, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and leukaemia. One of the biggest problems in women who have to undergo chemo- or radiotherapy is premature ovarian failure (premature ovarian insufficiency) and its associated infertility. For breast cancer alone, it is assumed that there are ca. 200 patients a year in Germany who wish to conceive. In men, chemotherapy can result in permanent damage to the testicular tissue. Due to advances in reproductive medicine, a variety of fertility-protective methods are now available. These techniques include administration of GnRH-agonists, ovarian stimulation with cryoconservation of fertilised or unfertilised oocytes, as well as cryoconservation of ovarian tissue. Relocation of the ovaries by surgically moving them out of the pelvis (ovarian transposition) to protect them from damage caused by radiotherapy is also possible.
Lung cancer
Current research directions for lung cancer treatment include immunotherapy, which encourages the body's immune system to attack the tumor cells, epigenetics, and new combinations of chemotherapy and radiotherapy, both on their own and together. Many of these new treatments work through immune checkpoint blockade, disrupting cancer's ability to evade the immune system.
Alternative cancer treatments
A distinction is typically made between complementary treatments which do not disrupt conventional medical treatment, and alternative treatments which may replace conventional treatment. 
Alternative cancer treatments are typically contrasted with experimental cancer treatments – which are treatments for which experimental testing is underway – and with complementary treatments, which are non-invasive practices used alongside other treatment. All approved chemotherapeutic cancer treatments were considered experimental cancer treatments before their safety and efficacy testing was completed.
Breast cancer management
Systemic therapy uses medications to treat cancer cells throughout the body. Any combination of systemic treatments may be used to treat breast cancer. Standard of care systemic treatments include chemotherapy, endocrine therapy and targeted therapy.
Cancer
Because cancer is a class of diseases, it is unlikely that there will ever be a single "cure for cancer" any more than there will be a single treatment for all infectious diseases. Angiogenesis inhibitors were once incorrectly thought to have potential as a "silver bullet" treatment applicable to many types of cancer. Angiogenesis inhibitors and other cancer therapeutics are used in combination to reduce cancer morbidity and mortality.
Treatment of cancer
Because "cancer" refers to a class of diseases,
it is unlikely that there will ever be a single "cure for cancer" any more than there will be a single treatment for all infectious diseases. Angiogenesis inhibitors were once thought to have potential as a "silver bullet" treatment applicable to many types of cancer, but this has not been the case in practice.
War on Cancer
A multitude of factors have been cited as impeding progress in finding a cure for cancer and key areas have been identified and suggested as important to accelerate progress in cancer research.
Since there are many different forms of cancer with distinct causes, each form requires different treatment approaches. However, this research could still lead to therapies and cures for many forms of cancer. Some of the factors that have posed challenges for the development of preventive measures and anti-cancer drugs and therapies include the following:The rise of a new class of molecular technologies developed during the Human Genome Project opens up new ways to study cancer and holds the promise for the discovery of new aspects of cancer biology that could eventually lead to novel, more effective diagnostics and therapies for cancer patients.
Timeline of cancer treatment development
Cancer was traditionally treated with surgery, heat, or herbal (chemical) therapies.
Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy (often abbreviated to chemo and sometimes CTX or CTx) is a type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs (chemotherapeutic agents) as part of a standardized chemotherapy regimen. Chemotherapy may be given with a curative intent (which almost always involves combinations of drugs), or it may aim to prolong life or to reduce symptoms (palliative chemotherapy). Chemotherapy is one of the major categories of the medical discipline specifically devoted to pharmacotherapy for cancer, which is called "medical oncology".
Hormonal therapy (oncology)
Hormonal therapy in oncology is hormone therapy for cancer and is one of the major modalities of medical oncology (pharmacotherapy for cancer), others being cytotoxic chemotherapy and targeted therapy (biotherapeutics). It involves the manipulation of the endocrine system through exogenous or external administration of specific hormones, particularly steroid hormones, or drugs which inhibit the production or activity of such hormones (hormone antagonists). Because steroid hormones are powerful drivers of gene expression in certain cancer cells, changing the levels or activity of certain hormones can cause certain cancers to cease growing, or even undergo cell death. Surgical removal of endocrine organs, such as orchiectomy and oophorectomy can also be employed as a form of hormonal therapy.
Treatment of cancer
The growth of some cancers can be inhibited by providing or blocking certain hormones. Common examples of hormone-sensitive tumors include certain types of breast and prostate cancers. Blocking estrogen or testosterone is often an important additional treatment. In certain cancers, administration of hormone agonists, such as progestogens may be therapeutically beneficial.
Alternative cancer treatments
Alternative cancer treatments have typically not undergone properly conducted, well-designed clinical trials, or the results have not been published due to publication bias (a refusal to publish results of a treatment outside that journal's focus area, guidelines or approach). Among those that have been published, the methodology is often poor. A 2006 systematic review of 214 articles covering 198 clinical trials of alternative cancer treatments concluded that almost none conducted dose-ranging studies, which are necessary to ensure that the patients are being given a useful amount of the treatment. These kinds of treatments appear and vanish frequently, and have throughout history.
Cancer in the United Kingdom
Treatment of cancer has been a recurring issue in the National Health Service. Official guidelines state that no one in England should have to wait more than 62 days for cancer treatment after a referral from their general practitioner. However, press reports in 2015 indicated that some patients had to wait longer. On 4 September 2015, the NHS announced it would no longer pay for 17 different cancer medications. The Telegraph reported that over 5,000 patients with breast, bowel, skin, and pancreatic cancers would be affected.
Esophageal cancer
Laser therapy is the use of high-intensity light to destroy tumor cells while affecting only the treated area. This is typically done if the cancer cannot be removed by surgery. The relief of a blockage can help with pain and difficulty swallowing. Photodynamic therapy, a type of laser therapy, involves the use of drugs that are absorbed by cancer cells; when exposed to a special light, the drugs become active and destroy the cancer cells.
Oasis of Hope Hospital
The Oasis of Hope Hospital offers a variety of alternative cancer treatments. During an interview, Edzard Ernst spoke about the sort of treatments commonly used by hospitals and treatment centers such as the Oasis of Hope. Many of the therapies focus on the removal of carcinogenic substances. Claims are made by the hospitals that the removal of such substances is able to boost the immune system to then fight off cancer. This treatment is however unproven in traditional medicine.
Experimental cancer treatment
The entries listed below vary between theoretical therapies to unproven controversial therapies. Many of these treatments are alleged to help against only specific forms of cancer. It is not a list of treatments widely available at hospitals.
Cancer Drugs Fund
In December 2014 Andy Burnham announced that a Labour government would replace the fund with a Cancer Treatment Fund which would pay not only for innovative cancer drugs, but also for surgery and radiotherapy. It could mean increased access to advanced forms of radiotherapy such as intensity modulated radiotherapy and stereotactic ablative radiotherapy.
Issels treatment
The Issels treatment, or Issels combination therapy, is an alternative cancer treatment based on the ideas of Josef Issels. The treatment is considered ineffective against cancer by the American Cancer Society, and is listed as a "Dubious Treatment" by the alternative medicine watchdog website Quackwatch.
List of unproven and disproven cancer treatments
This is a non-exhaustive list of alternative treatments that have been promoted to treat or prevent cancer in humans but which lack scientific and medical evidence of effectiveness. In many cases, there is scientific evidence that the alleged treatments are not effective. Unlike accepted cancer treatments, treatments lacking in evidence of efficacy are generally ignored or avoided by the medical community and are often pseudoscientific.
Conventional treatment
Conventional treatment or Conventional therapy is the therapy that is widely used and accepted by most Health professionals. It is different from alternative therapies, which are not as widely used. Examples of conventional treatment some treatment for cancer include surgery, chemotherapy and radiation therapy.
Experimental cancer treatment
Experimental cancer treatments are non-medical therapies intended to treat cancer by improving on, supplementing or replacing conventional methods (surgery, chemotherapy, radiation, and immunotherapy). Experimental cancer treatments cannot make medical claims. The term experimental cancer treatment could thus be substituted for "non FDA approved cancer treatment."
Carcinoid
Surgery, if feasible, is the only curative therapy. If the tumor has metastasized (most commonly, to the liver) and is considered incurable, there are some promising treatment modalities, such as radiolabeled octreotide (e.g. Lutetium (Lu) DOTA-octreotate) or the radiopharmaceutical 131I-mIBG (meta iodo benzyl guanidine) for arresting the growth of the tumors and prolonging survival in patients with liver metastases, though these are currently experimental.
Fast neutron therapy
Several centers around the world have used fast neutrons for treating cancer. Due to lack of funding and support, at present only three are active in the USA.
The University of Washington and the Gershenson Radiation Oncology Center operate fast neutron therapy beams and both are equipped with a Multi-Leaf Collimator (MLC) to shape the neutron beam.
Management of prostate cancer
Radiation therapy, also known as radiotherapy, is often used to treat all stages of prostate cancer. It is also often used after surgery if the surgery was not successful at curing the cancer. Radiotherapy uses ionizing radiation to kill prostate cancer cells. When absorbed in tissue, ionizing radiation such as gamma and x-rays damage the DNA in cancer cells, which increases the probability of apoptosis (cell death). Normal cells are able to repair radiation damage, while cancer cells are not. Radiation therapy exploits this fact to treat cancer. Two different kinds of radiation therapy are used in prostate cancer treatment: external beam radiation therapy and brachytherapy (specifically prostate brachytherapy).
Treatment of cancer
Although the control of the symptoms of cancer is not typically thought of as a treatment directed at the cancer, it is an important determinant of the quality of life of cancer patients, and plays an important role in the decision whether the patient is able to undergo other treatments. Although doctors generally have the therapeutic skills to reduce pain, Chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting, diarrhea, hemorrhage and other common problems in cancer patients, the multidisciplinary specialty of palliative care has arisen specifically in response to the symptom control needs of this group of patients.
Physical oncology
But the "equation" of cancer is much more complex. And the massive failure of "targeted therapies" to cure cancer is the illustration. These targeted therapies have cured only 50% of HER2 positive breast cancers treated with adjuvant therapy after local cancer treatment. That is 3% of breast cancers. That's all. Moreover, their participation in the "chronicization" of the breast and prostate - even some colon or rectum - is very minor compared to chemo / hormonotherapy, much better used today.
Cancer pain
Due to the poor quality of most studies of complementary and alternative medicine in the treatment of cancer pain, it is not possible to recommend integration of these therapies into the management of cancer pain. There is weak evidence for a modest benefit from hypnosis; studies of massage therapy produced mixed results and none found pain relief after 4 weeks; Reiki, and touch therapy results were inconclusive; acupuncture, the most studied such treatment, has demonstrated no benefit as an adjunct analgesic in cancer pain; the evidence for music therapy is equivocal; and some herbal interventions such as PC-SPES, mistletoe, and saw palmetto are known to be toxic to some people with cancer. The most promising evidence, though still weak, is for mind-body interventions such as biofeedback and relaxation techniques.
Timeline of cancer treatment development
This is a historical timeline of the development and progress of cancer treatments, which includes time of discovery, progress, and approval of the treatments.
Thyroid cancer
Improvements have been made in thyroid cancer treatment during recent years. The identification of some of the molecular or DNA abnormalities has led to the development of therapies that target these molecular defects. The first of these agents to negotiate the approval process is vandetanib, a tyrosine kinase inhibitor that targets the "RET proto-oncogene", two subtypes of the vascular endothelial growth factor receptor, and the epidermal growth factor receptor. More of these compounds are under investigation and are likely to make it through the approval process. For differentiated thyroid carcinoma, strategies are evolving to use selected types of targeted therapy to increase radioactive iodine uptake in papillary thyroid carcinomas that have lost the ability to concentrate iodide. This strategy would make possible the use of radioactive iodine therapy to treat "resistant" thyroid cancers. Other targeted therapies are being evaluated, making life extension possible over the next 5–10 years for those with stage III and IV thyroid cancer.
Cancer
Radiation therapy involves the use of ionizing radiation in an attempt to either cure or improve symptoms. It works by damaging the DNA of cancerous tissue, killing it. To spare normal tissues (such as skin or organs, which radiation must pass through to treat the tumor), shaped radiation beams are aimed from multiple exposure angles to intersect at the tumor, providing a much larger dose there than in the surrounding, healthy tissue. As with chemotherapy, cancers vary in their response to radiation therapy.
Cancer pain
Cancer pain treatment aims to relieve pain with minimal adverse treatment effects, allowing the person a good quality of life and level of function and a relatively painless death. Though 80–90 percent of cancer pain can be eliminated or well controlled, nearly half of all people with cancer pain in the developed world and more than 80 percent of people with cancer worldwide receive less than optimal care.
Intraoperative electron radiation therapy
IOERT has a long history of clinical applications, with promising results, in the management of solid tumors (e.g., pancreatic cancer, locally advanced and recurrent rectal cancer, breast tumors, sarcomas, and selected gynaecologic and genitourinary malignancies, neuroblastomas and brain tumors. In virtually every tumor site, electron IORT improves local control, reducing the need for additional surgeries or interventions. The following is a list of disease sites currently treated by IOERT:
Treatment of cancer
Chemotherapy is the treatment of cancer with drugs ("anticancer drugs") that can destroy cancer cells. In current usage, the term "chemotherapy" usually refers to "cytotoxic" drugs which affect rapidly dividing cells in general, in contrast with "targeted therapy" (see below). Chemotherapy drugs interfere with cell division in various possible ways, e.g. with the duplication of DNA or the separation of newly formed chromosomes. Most forms of chemotherapy target all rapidly dividing cells and are not specific to cancer cells, although some degree of specificity may come from the inability of many cancer cells to repair DNA damage, while normal cells generally can. Hence, chemotherapy has the potential to harm healthy tissue, especially those tissues that have a high replacement rate (e.g. intestinal lining). These cells usually repair themselves after chemotherapy.
Alternative cancer treatments
Many therapies have been (and continue to be) promoted to treat or prevent cancer in humans but lack good scientific and medical evidence of effectiveness. In many cases, there is good scientific evidence that the alleged treatments do not work. Unlike accepted cancer treatments, unproven and disproven treatments are generally ignored or avoided by the medical community, and are often pseudoscientific.
Experimental cancer treatment
Dichloroacetate (DCA) has been found to shrink tumors "in vivo" in rats, and has a plausible scientific mechanism: DCA appears to reactivate suppressed mitochondria in some types of oxygen-starved tumor cells, and thus promotes apoptosis. Because it was tested for other conditions, DCA is known to be relatively safe, available, and inexpensive, and it can be taken by mouth as a pill, which is convenient. Five patients with brain cancer have been treated with DCA in a clinical trial, and the authors say that the lives of four were 'probably' extended. However, without a large controlled trial it is impossible to say whether the drug is truly effective against cancer.
Cancer survivor
While Fear of Cancer Recurrence (FCR) can be adaptive at low levels, high levels of FCR require psychological treatment. At present, there are no psychometrically sound measures of FCR, which makes research into the effectiveness of treatment protocols difficult to interpret. Treatments that are being investigated include: cognitive-behavioural therapy, Meta-cognitive therapy and Cognitive-existential group therapy and exercise.
Radiation therapy
The response of a tumor to radiation therapy is also related to its size. Due to complex radiobiology, very large tumors respond less well to radiation than smaller tumors or microscopic disease. Various strategies are used to overcome this effect. The most common technique is surgical resection prior to radiation therapy. This is most commonly seen in the treatment of breast cancer with wide local excision or mastectomy followed by adjuvant radiation therapy. Another method is to shrink the tumor with neoadjuvant chemotherapy prior to radical radiation therapy. A third technique is to enhance the radiosensitivity of the cancer by giving certain drugs during a course of radiation therapy. Examples of radiosensitizing drugs include: Cisplatin, Nimorazole, and Cetuximab.
Cancer vaccine
One approach to cancer vaccination is to separate proteins from cancer cells and immunize patients against those proteins as antigens, in the hope of stimulating the immune system to kill the cancer cells. Research on cancer vaccines is underway for treatment of breast, lung, colon, skin, kidney, prostate and other cancers.
Yashoda Hospitals
The institute facilitates radiation surgery, chemotherapy, non-chemotherapy medicines, surgery, palliative care and other related cancer care. It is known for treatments related to breast cancer, leukemia or blood cancers, head and neck cancers, gastrointestinal cancers and other forms of cancers. Yashoda Cancer Institute focuses on non-invasive treatments, organ preservation and minimizing toxicity. A variety of support professionals, such as social workers, chaplains, dietitians and financial counselors are available to meet any psycho-social needs of patients.
RNAi nanoparticles to target cancer
Cancer treatments may vary depending on what type of cancer is being targeted, but one challenge remains in all of them: it is incredibly difficult to target without killing good cells. Cancer drugs and therapies all have very low selective toxicity. However, with the help of nanotechnology and RNA silencing, new and better treatments may be on the horizon for certain forms of cancer.
Prostate cancer
If the cancer has spread beyond the prostate, treatment options significantly change, so most doctors that treat prostate cancer use a variety of nomograms to predict the probability of spread. Treatment by watchful waiting/active surveillance, external beam radiation therapy, brachytherapy, cryosurgery, HIFU, and surgery are, in general, offered to men whose cancer remains within the prostate. Hormonal therapy and chemotherapy are often reserved for disease that has spread beyond the prostate. There are exceptions: local or metastasis-directed therapy by radiation treatment may be used for advanced tumors with a limited amount of metastases, and hormonal therapy is used for some early stage tumors. Cryotherapy (the process of freezing the tumor), hormonal therapy, and chemotherapy may also be offered if initial treatment fails and the cancer progresses.
Skin cancer
For low-risk disease, radiation therapy (external beam radiotherapy or brachytherapy), topical chemotherapy (imiquimod or 5-fluorouracil) and cryotherapy (freezing the cancer off) can provide adequate control of the disease; all of them, however, may have lower overall cure rates than certain type of surgery. Other modalities of treatment such as photodynamic therapy, topical chemotherapy, electrodesiccation and curettage can be found in the discussions of basal-cell carcinoma and squamous-cell carcinoma.
Programme of Action for Cancer Therapy
Programme of Action for Cancer Therapy (PACT) is a programme created by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in 2004 to build upon the Agency’s experience in radiation medicine and technology, and enable developing countries to introduce, expand or improve their cancer care capacity and services in a sustainable manner by integrating radiotherapy into a comprehensive cancer control programme that maximizes its therapeutic effectiveness and impact. Such a programme integrates and aligns cancer prevention, surveillance, screening and early detection, treatment and palliative care activities and investments, and is set up based on the Guidelines of the World Health Organization (WHO). It also addresses other challenges such as infrastructure gaps and, through partnerships, builds capacity and long term support for continuous education and training of cancer care professionals, as well as for community-based civil society action to combat cancer.
Auger therapy
Auger therapy (AT) is a form of radiation therapy for the treatment of cancer which relies on a large number of low-energy electrons (emitted by the Auger effect) to damage cancer cells, rather than the high-energy radiation used in traditional radiation therapy. Similar to other forms of radiation therapy, Auger therapy relies on radiation-induced damage to cancer cells (particularly DNA damage) to arrest cell division, stop tumor growth and metastasis and kill cancerous cells. It differs from other types of radiation therapy in that electrons emitted via the Auger effect (Auger electrons) are released in large numbers with low kinetic energy.
Kidney cancer
Other treatment options include biological therapies such as everolimus, torisel, nexavar, sutent, and axitinib, the use of immunotherapy including interferon and interleukin-2. Immunotherapy is successful in 10 to 15% of people. Sunitinib is the current standard of care in the adjuvant setting along with pazopanib; these treatments are often followed by everolimus, axitinib, and sorafenib. Immune checkpoint inhibitors are also in trials for kidney cancer, and some have gained approval for medical use.
Treatment of cancer
There are five different stages of colon cancer, and these five stages all have treatment. Stage 0, is where the patient is required to undergo surgery to remove the polyp (American Cancer Society). Stage 1, depending on the location of the cancer in the colon and lymph nodes, the patient undergoes surgery just like Stage 0. Stage 2 patients undergoes removing nearby lymph nodes, but depending on what the doctor says, the patent might have to undergo chemotherapy after surgery (if the cancer is at higher risk of coming back). Stage 3, is where the cancer has spread all throughout the lymph nodes but not yet to other organs or body parts. When getting to this stage, Surgery is conducted on the colon and lymph nodes, then the doctor orders Chemotherapy (FOLFOX or CapeOx) to treat the colon cancer in the location needed (American Cancer Society). The last a patient can get is Stage 4. Stage 4 patients only undergo surgery if it is for the prevention of the cancer, along with pain relief. If the pain continues with these two options, the doctor might recommended radiation therapy. The main treatment strategy is Chemotherapy due to how aggressive the cancer becomes in this stage not only to the colon but to the lymph nodes.
Ketogenic diet
Because some cancer cells are inefficient in processing ketone bodies for energy, the ketogenic diet has also been suggested as a treatment for cancer. A 2018 review looked at the evidence from preclinical and clinical studies of ketogenic diets in cancer therapy. The clinical studies in humans are typically very small, with some providing weak evidence for anti-tumour effect, particularly for glioblastoma, but in other cancers and studies, no anti-tumour effect was seen. Taken together, results from preclinical studies, albeit sometimes contradictory, tend to support an anti-tumor effect rather than a pro-tumor effect of the KD for most solid cancers.
Clear-cell ovarian carcinoma
Given that treatment options are limited for clear cell ovarian cancer patients, researchers are studying biomarkers or specific pathways that could aid in developing future treatment. These patients are good candidates for targeted therapies since the standard does not adequately help their care. Some suggested therapeutic targets include the PI3K/AKT/mTOR, VEGF, Il-6/STAT3, MET, and HNF-1beta pathways. Better insight into genomic heterogeneity would also provide a personalized approach to identifying treatment targets for clear cell tumor patients that share similar phenotypes. Developing stronger options is also beneficial because ovarian cancer is the fifth leading cause of cancer deaths for women and is one of the most lethal gynecological cancers.
Brachytherapy
Brachytherapy is a form of radiotherapy where a sealed radiation source is placed inside or next to the area requiring treatment. Brachytherapy is commonly used as an effective treatment for cervical, prostate, breast, and skin cancer and can also be used to treat tumours in many other body sites. Treatment results have demonstrated that the cancer-cure rates of brachytherapy are either comparable to surgery and external beam radiotherapy (EBRT) or are improved when used in combination with these techniques. Brachytherapy can be used alone or in combination with other therapies such as surgery, EBRT and chemotherapy.
Management of prostate cancer
Treatment for prostate cancer may involve active surveillance, surgery, radiation therapy - including brachytherapy (prostate brachytherapy) and external-beam radiation therapy, proton therapy, high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU), cryosurgery, hormonal therapy, chemotherapy, or some combination. The favored option depends on the stage of the disease, the Gleason score, and the PSA level. Other important factors include the man's age, his general health, and his feelings about potential treatments and their possible side-effects. Because all treatments can have significant side-effects, such as erectile dysfunction and urinary incontinence, treatment discussions often focus on balancing the goals of therapy with the risks of lifestyle alterations.
Immunotherapy
Cancer immunotherapy attempts to stimulate the immune system to destroy tumors. A variety of strategies are in use or are undergoing research and testing. Randomized controlled studies in different cancers resulting in significant increase in survival and disease free period have been reported and its efficacy is enhanced by 20–30% when cell-based immunotherapy is combined with conventional treatment methods.
Experimental cancer treatment
Tumor Treating Fields is a novel FDA-approved cancer treatment therapy that uses alternating electric field to disturb the rapid cell division exhibited by cancer cells.
Cancer Breakthroughs 2020
Cancer Breakthroughs 2020, formerly Cancer Moonshot 2020, is a coalition announced in January 2016 in the United States with the goal of finding vaccine-based immunotherapies against cancer. By pooling the resources of multinational pharmaceutical, biotechnology companies, academic centers and oncologists, it intends to create access to over 60 novel and approved agents under exploration in the war against cancer and is expected to enable rapid testing of novel immunotherapy combination protocols. The initiative is being managed by a consortium of companies called The National Immunotherapy Coalition (NIC). The NIC plans to design, initiate and complete randomized clinical trials in cancer patients with cancer at all stages of disease in up to 20 tumor types in as many as 20,000 patients by the year 2020. The project's stated goal is to aggressively focus on rapidly developing new treatments for the disease. The organization attempts to rethink how cancer is tackled, using the body's own immune system and re-training it to detect and destroy the body's cancer cells.
Treatment of cancer
Complete removal of the cancer without damage to the rest of the body (that is, achieving cure with near-zero adverse effects) is the ideal goal of treatment and is often the goal in practice. Sometimes this can be accomplished by surgery, but the propensity of cancers to invade adjacent tissue or to spread to distant sites by microscopic metastasis often limits its effectiveness; and chemotherapy and radiotherapy can have a negative effect on normal cells. Therefore, cure with nonnegligible adverse effects may be accepted as a practical goal in some cases; and besides curative intent, practical goals of therapy can also include (1) suppressing the cancer to a subclinical state and maintaining that state for years of good quality of life (that is, treating the cancer as a chronic disease), and (2) palliative care without curative intent (for advanced-stage metastatic cancers).
Radiation therapy
Radiation therapy or radiotherapy, often abbreviated RT, RTx, or XRT, is therapy using ionizing radiation, generally as part of cancer treatment to control or kill malignant cells and normally delivered by a linear accelerator. Radiation therapy may be curative in a number of types of cancer if they are localized to one area of the body. It may also be used as part of adjuvant therapy, to prevent tumor recurrence after surgery to remove a primary malignant tumor (for example, early stages of breast cancer). Radiation therapy is synergistic with chemotherapy, and has been used before, during, and after chemotherapy in susceptible cancers. The subspecialty of oncology concerned with radiotherapy is called radiation oncology.
Autologous immune enhancement therapy
Each type of cancer needs a specific combination of treatments aimed at that particular kind of cancer. When the extent of spread of cancer is deep, total removal of the cancer growth by surgery may not be possible. At times, after surgical removal of a part of the cancer, radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy may be necessary to treat the remnant portion of cancer. It is widely known that Chemotherapy has profound toxic side effects and has limitations in efficacy. Radiotherapy is also a very effective mode of treatment in certain types of cancer, but it has its own adverse effects as well. These two modalities affect not only the cancer affected cells, but also the normal cells
Cancer
Many treatment options for cancer exist. The primary ones include surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, hormonal therapy, targeted therapy and palliative care. Which treatments are used depends on the type, location and grade of the cancer as well as the patient's health and preferences. The treatment intent may or may not be curative.
Epithelioid sarcoma
Epithelioid sarcoma (especially advanced stage, recurrent, or metastasized disease) has been shown to be resistant to traditional cancer therapies, necessitating further exploration of novel treatment methods and techniques. Because of the relatively poor response of epithelioid sarcoma to traditional cancer treatments (surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation), new treatment strategies are being looked to.
Autologous immune enhancement therapy
Adoptive Immuno cell therapy of cancer was first introduced by Steven Rosenberg and his colleagues of National Institute of Health USA. In the late 80s, they published an article in which they reported a low tumor regression rate (2.6–3.3%) in 1205 patients with metastatic cancer who underwent different types of active specific immunotherapy (ASI), and they suggest that AIET with specific chemotherapy or radiotherapy as the future of cancer immunotherapy. In the beginning Immunotherapy treatments involved administration of cytokines such as Interleukin. with an aim of inducing the lymphocytes which will carry their activity of destroying the tumour cells. Thereafter the adverse effects of such intravenously administered cytokines lead to the extraction of the lymphocytes from the blood and culture-expand them in the lab and then to inject the cells alone enable them destroy the cancer cells. Till date different kinds of autologous and allogenic immune cells such as lymphokine-activated killer(LAK)cells, Natural killer (NK) cells, Activated Cytotoxic T lymphocytes(CTLs), Dendritic cells(DCs), Gene manipulated autologous and allogenic Immune cells have been used in clinical applications of Immunotherapy.
Treatment of cancer
Radiation therapy may be used to treat almost every type of solid tumor, including cancers of the brain, breast, cervix, larynx, liver, lung, pancreas, prostate, skin, stomach, uterus, or soft tissue sarcomas. Radiation is also used to treat leukemia and lymphoma. Radiation dose to each site depends on a number of factors, including the radio sensitivity of each cancer type and whether there are tissues and organs nearby that may be damaged by radiation. Thus, as with every form of treatment, radiation therapy is not without its side effects.
Radiation therapy kills cancer cells by damaging their DNA (the molecules inside cells that carry genetic information and pass it from one generation to the next) (1).Radiation therapy can either damage DNA directly or create charged particles (free radicals) within the cells that can in turn damage the DNA. (2) Radiation therapy can lead to dry mouth from exposure of salivary glands to radiation. The salivary glands lubricate the mouth with moisture or spit. Post therapy, the salivary glands will resume functioning but rarely in the same fashion. Dry mouth caused by radiation can be a lifelong problem. The specifics of your brain cancer radiation therapy plan will be based on several factors, including the type and size of the brain tumor and the extent of disease. External beam radiation is commonly used for brain cancer. The area radiated typically includes the tumor and an area surrounding the tumor. For metastatic brain tumors, radiation is sometimes given to the entire brain.
Radiation therapy uses special equipment to send high doses of radiation to the cancer cells. Most cells in the body grow and divide to form new cells. But cancer cells grow and divide faster than many of the normal cells around them. Radiation works by making small breaks in the DNA inside cell. Radiation might not be a choice of treatment if the tumour was diagnosed on the late stage or is located on vulnerable places. Moreover, radiation causes significant side effects if used in children aged 0–14. It was determined to be a beneficial treatment but it causes significant side effects that influence the lifestyle of the young patients. Radiotherapy is the use of high-energy rays, usually x-rays and similar rays (such as electrons) to treat disease. It works by destroying cancer cells in the area that's treated. Although normal cells can also be damaged by radiotherapy, they can usually repair themselves, but cancer cells can't. If the tumour was found on the late stage, it requires patients to have higher radiation exposure which might be harmful for the organs. Radiotherapy is determined to be an effective treatment in adults but it causes significant side effects that can influence patients` daily living. In children radiotherapy mostly causes long-term side effects such as hearing loss and blindness. Children who had received cranial radiotherapy are deemed at a high risk for academic failure and cognitive delay.
Study by Reddy A.T. determined the significant decrease in IQ with higher doses of radiation, specifically for children with brain tumours. Radiation therapy is not the best treatment for brain tumours, especially in young children as it causes significant damages. There are alternative treatments available for young patients such as surgical resection to decrease the occurrence of side effects.
Cancer research
Cancer research ranges from epidemiology, molecular bioscience to the performance of clinical trials to evaluate and compare applications of the various cancer treatments. These applications include surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, hormone therapy, immunotherapy and combined treatment modalities such as chemo-radiotherapy. Starting in the mid-1990s, the emphasis in clinical cancer research shifted towards therapies derived from biotechnology research, such as cancer immunotherapy and gene therapy.
Genotoxicity
Genotoxic chemotherapy is the treatment of cancer with the use of one or more genotoxic drugs. The treatment is traditionally part of standardized regime. By utilizing the destructive properties of genotoxins treatments aims to induce DNA damage into cancer cells. Any damage done to a cancer is passed on to descendent cancer cells as proliferation continues. If this damage is severe enough, it will induce cells to undergo apoptosis.
Renal medullary carcinoma
This cancer is typically aggressive, presents at an advanced stage when the cancer has already metastasized, and is resistant to chemotherapy. It therefore poses a significant management challenge. Current treatment options include surgical resection and chemotherapy with a variety of agents, including (but not limited to) ifosfamide, etoposide, carboplatin, and topotecan. A recent study looked at the use of methotrexate, vinblastine, doxorubicin, and cisplatin in 3 patients and saw a partial response and longer survival than historical reports. Carboplatin, gemcitibine, and paclitaxel provided a complete response in a patient with advanced disease. The role of radiation is unclear; some tumors have shown a response to radiation. Due to the apparent propensity for the tumor to spread to the central nervous system, it has been suggested that prophylactic craniospinal irradiation should be considered.
Autologous immune enhancement therapy
Though the concept of this treatment started in the US in 1980s, full-fledged clinical treatments on a routine basis have been in practice in Japan since 1990. Randomized controlled studies in different cancers with significant increase in survival and disease free period have been reported.
In India immunotherapy has shown positive results in patients with advanced cancer including acute myeloid leukaemia, pancreatic cancer, cervical cancer, ovarian cancer, Breast Cancer and Philadelphia chromosome Positive Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia.
Auto-Immune diseases like the Auto-Immune Hemolytic Anemia (AIHA) have been known to be associated with malignancies. In general lower Natural Killer (NK) profile has been associated with development of cancers by earlier studies. Recently an article has been published in which it has been described that the in vitro expansion of NK cells is decreased in cancer patients who have concomitant Auto-immune Diseases like the AIHA. This study also throws questions on whether AIHA is a complication of malignancies, due to the lower NK cell profile in cancer which would have given rise to the AIHA due to some common antibody between NK cells and Red Blood Cells (RBCs) or whether the AIHA lowers the NK cell profile which in turn causes the cancer. This warrants further investigations into the identification of common antibodies between NK cells & RBCs and also finding new Immuno- therapeutic strategies which can tackle both cancer and auto-immunity
Cancer Treatment Centers of America
Cancer Treatment Centers of America also provide cancer specific centers for the following diseases at select locations:In addition, Cancer Treatment Centers of America offers several clinical trials at all five of their hospitals and is an active participate in studies offered through clinicaltrials.gov program. In 2016, CTCA offered the TAPUR study also known as the Targeted Agent and Profiling Utilization Registry study. This was led by the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO). The study aimed to improve our understanding of how commercially available anti-cancer drugs perform on a broader range of cancers, by matching the drugs to tumors with specific genomic mutations that the drugs are designed to target.
Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center
Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center also offers specialized treatments, services and therapies including: High-dose Chemotherapy; Photodynamic Therapy; Gamma Knife; Follow-up Clinic for Long- term Survivors of Childhood Cancer; a Regional Center for Maxillofacial Prosthetics; Clinical Genetics Testing and Counseling; the Center for HIV-related Malignancies; Lymphedema Clinic; Balloon Kyphoplasty; Brain Mapping; Cancer Pain Management Service; High Risk Breast Clinic; Intraoperative MRI; Minimally Invasive Surgical Suite; Mohs Surgery;
Robotic Surgery and Colorectal Cancer Risk Management Clinic.
Treatment of cancer
Cancer cells are frequently deficient in a DNA repair gene. (Also see DNA repair deficiency in cancer.) This DNA repair defect either may be due to mutation or, often, epigenetic silencing (see epigenetic silencing of DNA repair). If this DNA repair defect is in one of seven DNA repair pathways (see DNA repair pathways), and a compensating DNA repair pathway is inhibited, then the tumor cells may be killed by synthetic lethality. Non-tumorous cells, with the initial pathway intact, can survive.
Alternative cancer treatments
Alternative treatments, by contrast, are used in place of mainstream treatments. The most popular alternative cancer therapies include restrictive diets, mind-body interventions, bioelectromagnetics, nutritional supplements, and herbs. The popularity and prevalence of different treatments varies widely by region. Cancer Research UK warns that alternative treatments may interact with conventional treatment, may increase the side effects of medication, and can give people false hope.
Alternative cancer treatments
Complementary treatments are used in conjunction with proven mainstream treatments. They tend to be pleasant for the patient, not involve substances with any pharmacological effects, inexpensive, and intended to treat side effects rather than to kill cancer cells. Medical massage and self-hypnosis to treat pain are examples of complementary treatments.
War on Cancer
The effectiveness and expansion of available therapies has seen significant improvements since the 1970s. For example, lumpectomy replaced more invasive mastectomy surgery for the treatment of breast cancer.
Treatment of childhood leukemia and chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) have undergone major advances since the war on cancer began. The drug Gleevec now cures most CML patients, compared to previous therapy with interferon, which extended life for approximately 1 year in only 20-30 percent of patients.
Saint Thomas - Rutherford Hospital
The Saint Thomas Health Services Cancer Program uses innovative cancer treatments, integrated therapies and comprehensive education and prevention in the battle against cancer. An American College of Surgeons-accredited program, Saint Thomas Health provides treatment and prevention services for a number of forms of cancer, including brain, breast, cervical, colon, lung, ovarian, prostate, uterine and others.
Breast cancer
Chemotherapy
DNA repair
Cancer therapy procedures such as chemotherapy and radiotherapy work by overwhelming the capacity of the cell to repair DNA damage, resulting in cell death. Cells that are most rapidly dividing – most typically cancer cells – are preferentially affected. The side-effect is that other non-cancerous but rapidly dividing cells such as progenitor cells in the gut, skin, and hematopoietic system are also affected. Modern cancer treatments attempt to localize the DNA damage to cells and tissues only associated with cancer, either by physical means (concentrating the therapeutic agent in the region of the tumor) or by biochemical means (exploiting a feature unique to cancer cells in the body). ...; in the context of therapies targeting DNA damage response genes, the latter approach has been termed 'synthetic lethality'.
Particle therapy
Carbon ion therapy (CIRT) uses particles more massive than protons or neutrons. Carbon-ion radiotherapy has increasingly garnered scientific attention as technological delivery options have improved and clinical studies have demonstrated its treatment advantages for many cancers such as prostate, head and neck, lung, and liver cancers, bone and soft tissue sarcomas, locally recurrent rectal cancer, and pancreatic cancer, including locally advanced disease. It also has clear advantages to treat otherwise intractable hypoxic and radio-resistant cancers while opening the door for substantially hypo-fractionated treatment of normal and radio-sensitive disease.
Max Gerson
The American Cancer Society reported that "[t]here is no reliable scientific evidence that Gerson therapy is effective in treating cancer, and the principles behind it are not widely accepted by the medical community. It is not approved for use in the United States." In 1947, the National Cancer Institute reviewed 10 claimed cures submitted by Gerson; however, all of the patients were receiving standard anticancer treatment simultaneously, making it impossible to determine what effect, if any, was due to Gerson's therapy. A review of the Gerson Therapy by Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center concluded: "If proponents of such therapies wish them to be evaluated scientifically and considered valid adjuvant treatments, they must provide extensive records (more than simple survival rates) and conduct controlled, prospective studies as evidence". In 1959, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) again reviewed cases of patients treated by Gerson. The NCI found that the available information did not prove the regimen had benefit. Cancer Research UK states that "Available scientific evidence does not support any claims that Gerson therapy can treat cancer [...] Gerson therapy can be very harmful to your health."
History of cancer chemotherapy
The discovery that certain toxic chemicals administered in combination can cure certain cancers ranks as one of the greatest in modern medicine. Childhood ALL, testicular cancer, and Hodgkins disease, previously universally fatal, are now generally curable diseases. Conventional cytotoxic chemotherapy has shown the ability to cure some cancers, including testicular cancer, Hodgkin disease, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and some leukemias. It has also proved effective in the adjuvant setting, in reducing the risk of recurrence after surgery for high-risk breast cancer, colon cancer, and lung cancer, among others.