Are we beating cancer?

Damien · 12-10-2006, 00:24

When I was reading the topic about assisted dying and I thought of something. Cancer seems to have become much less scary than it was only 5 years ago (at least to me). We hear much much more storys about people who survive cancer now. We do here about people who are dying from it still but i find not as much...

Are we in the beginning stages of a slow process that will end with almost all cancers becoming cured or at least something people live with? All the time new treatments are being discovered? In recent years have we seen a massive increase in the amount of people who survive? I think for a lot of cancers the survival rate if caught early is over 50%.

Am I being too positive or does anyone else think its starting to happen?

---------- Post added at 00:24 ---------- Previous post was at 00:20 ----------

Also am i right that more people survive cancer than die from it now? As a whole....

AndrewJ · 12-10-2006, 01:10

As with any treatment even the most simple cases, things go wrong, we are learning daily more and more about oursselves.

While we are able to cure alot of cancers I think it will be many moons before we have truely mastered this horrid illness.

jonbxx · 12-10-2006, 07:20

I think the answer is "we're getting there"...

All the time, there are new discoveries in cancer research, be it new drugs, new ways of using old drugs and better screening for early diagnosis. However, at present, most cancer therapy uses pretty blunt tools to try and kill any actively dividing cells. In the future, there will be better therapies however they are going to be shockingly expensive. Antibodies and gene therapy are the most likely avenues for success but they cost a blimmin' fortune to make, look at Herceptin which is an antibody drug as an example.

There is a lot of hope and things are getting better, but it's going to cost...

Damien · 12-10-2006, 08:15

I heard they are coming out with a new type of treatment that kills the cancer by stopping blood flow to it

**Russ B** · 12-10-2006, 08:18

I await Salu's thoughts...

Damien · 12-10-2006, 08:31

I think that within my lifetime it will become rare for someone to die of cancer. I do not think that we will 'cure' cancer, late stages of the diease will have trouble, especially if it is in hard places such as the brain. Also if it spreads.

But I think we will come to a point where a vast majority of people become cured or are able to live with it.

At what point can we say "we can cure cancer" What pencentage survival rate would be needed?

FCC · 12-10-2006, 08:32

It is not fully understood what every gene does. Every year, more undestanding of the genes is developed.

Within few years (5-7?) there will be tailor made (DNA "matching") medication, that will turn off the relevant gene that "causes" cancer --it will work for some cancers...
But first we have to find out which ones trigger it. In some cases we already know, but in several we don't.

Some of the current methods are quite sohisticated but some are brutally primitive ("burn it")

Bex · 12-10-2006, 18:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by Damien

When I was reading the topic about assisted dying and I thought of something. Cancer seems to have become much less scary than it was only 5 years ago (at least to me). We hear much much more storys about people who survive cancer now. We do here about people who are dying from it still but i find not as much...

Are we in the beginning stages of a slow process that will end with almost all cancers becoming cured or at least something people live with? All the time new treatments are being discovered? In recent years have we seen a massive increase in the amount of people who survive? I think for a lot of cancers the survival rate if caught early is over 50%.

Am I being too positive or does anyone else think its starting to happen?

---------- Post added at 00:24 ---------- Previous post was at 00:20 ----------

Also am i right that more people survive cancer than die from it now? As a whole....

i think maybe early detection of cancer is helping people surive and beat it than used to be the case. in part this may be due to the fact that some issues around cancer are advertised more. women for example, are taught to check themselves for breast lumps etc. i think there is more access to facts about cancer. which can be a good thing but it can cause people to worry needlessly.

however working in a medical insurance company, i still deal with people on a daily basis whom are terminal, and also have two members of my family with "inoperable" cancer, one of which is having new drugs trailed, the other unfortunately appears to be terminal.

**Russ B** · 12-10-2006, 18:18

Magnuss Magnusson has just been diagnosed with it

**Rob** · 12-10-2006, 18:27

Whilst we may be getting more ways to control and treat cancer, and improved awareness and diagnostics enable the patient to be treated earler, it is incorrect to say that patients are being cured. Once cancer has occured and successfully treated the medics regard a patient as being in remission. Regular checkups are then the norm as the likelihood of a recurrence is unfortunately high.

FCC · 12-10-2006, 18:28

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bex

i think maybe early detection of cancer is helping people surive and beat it than used to be the case. in part this may be due to the fact that some issues around cancer are advertised more. women for example, are taught to check themselves for breast lumps etc. i think there is more access to facts about cancer. which can be a good thing but it can cause people to worry needlessly.

however working in a medical insurance company, i still deal with people on a daily basis whom are terminal, and also have two members of my family with "inoperable" cancer, one of which is having new drugs trailed, the other unfortunately appears to be terminal.

Unfortunately, breast cancer is on the up

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/hea...cle1771835.ece

Bex · 12-10-2006, 18:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by FCC

Unfortunately, breast cancer is on the up

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/hea...cle1771835.ece

the article doesn't say however what the survival rates are now... i.e. whether the survival rates have increased

etccarmageddon · 12-10-2006, 18:43

Quote:

Originally Posted by FCC

Unfortunately, breast cancer is on the up

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/hea...cle1771835.ece

I just found out today a customer I have known for years (over the phone) - she has gone off sick after discovering breast cancer.

**Stuart C** · 12-10-2006, 18:45

It also doesn't say if improved detection has resulted in more diagnoses than there were.

Bex · 12-10-2006, 18:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stuart C

It also doesn't say if improved detection has resulted in more diagnoses than there were.

it also doesn't mention whether the statistics include male breast cancer.. it seems focused mainly on women's rates, but men can get it too