Crystal Ball Gazing In Cancer Therapy

The field of oncology is seeing more ground-breaking developments now than at any time in the past, and the way patients are treated is set to undergo a revolution. This was the forecast given by Gordon McVie, director of the Cancer Research Campaign in the UK at a recent Rhone-Poulenc Rorer-sponsored cancer symposium.

The high incidence of tobacco-related cancer deaths is the primary reason that cancer statistics make such gloomy reading, said Prof McVie. Looking at the overall incidence and prognosis data, little or no headway appears to have been made despite the best efforts of oncologists. However, considerable encouragement can be taken if tobacco-related cancers are discounted. In most other cancers cure rates are rising, and some tumors are now extremely amenable to treatment. For example, testicular cancers tend to be highly sensitive to cisplatin and have become a model for curable neoplasms, he said.

Chemotherapy Paramount Prof McVie predicted that the emphasis will lie more and more with primary chemotherapy in cancer management, and that this increase in chemotherapy will be mirrored by a decrease in surgery. The surgical approach to cancer will not become a thing of the past, he stressed, but the surgeon's role will change. Instead of the bulk removal of tumor tissue, surgeons will develop increasingly more careful, expert and minimal techniques aimed at providing biopsy material.