Zeitschrift für Krebswissenschaft und -forschung
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Abstrakt

Cancer Genome Sequencing helps in determining which Cancer the Patient Exactly has for Determining the Best Therapy for the Cancer

Joseph Conrad

Cancer can be treated by surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, hormonal therapy, targeted therapy (including immunotherapy such as monoclonal antibody therapy) and synthetic lethality, most commonly as a series of separate treatments (e.g. chemotherapy before surgery). The choice of therapy depends upon the location and grade of the tumor and the stage of the disease, as well as the general state of the patient (performance status). Cancer genome sequencing helps in determining which cancer the patient exactly has for determining the best therapy for the cancer. A number of experimental cancer treatments are also under development. Under current estimates, two in five people will have cancer at some point in their lifetime. Complete removal of the cancer without damage to the rest of the body 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 no negligible adverse effects may be accepted as a practical goal in some cases; and besides curative intent, practical goals of therapy can also include 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 palliative care without curative intent.