BREAKTHROUGH IN CANCER TREATMENT AND DETECTION

Cancer treatment and detection has progressed in leaps and bounds since 3000 B.C., when Ancient Egyptians concluded there was no way to treat the disease. Advances have particularly grown over the past couple of decades.

• The robotic platform is a new tool in fighting lung cancer.
• Liquid biopsy is a dramatic innovation used daily at CTCA.
• Next-generation sequencing to detect circulating tumor DNA is a minimally invasive method for identifying potential therapeutic targets.
• Immunotherapy is an advance in cancer treatment that has resulted in dramatic change in cancer management.
• Precision medicine continues to shape how we care for patients today and in the future.

Corona Virus: What cancer patients should be aware of ??

The newly developed SARS-CoV-2 virus from the corona virus family has been spreading since December 2019. People can become infected with other people through a droplet infection. So far there is no vaccination against the virus. SARS-CoV-2 can cause respiratory disease COVID-19 in infected people. Cancer patients in particular should take appropriate hygiene measures to protect them, especially if their immune systems are weakened.

How do cancer patients react to the virus?

There is currently little information from case reports on how cancer patients react to contact with the virus. It can be assumed that people whose immune system is weakened (immunosuppression) get sick faster and possibly also more seriously than healthy people. 

Cancer patients can have a weak immune system for various reasons:

• Disease of leukemia or lymphoma,
• little white blood cells in the blood (leukocytopenia),
• low level of antibodies in the blood (low immunoglobulin levels),
• long-term use of drugs that suppress the immune system (e.g. steroids),
• Transplantation of foreign stem cells or other cellular therapies (for example CAR-T cell therapy).

Avoid contagion: tips for hygiene

Protects against viruses:

• Wash your hands regularly.
• Cancer patients who receive immunosuppressive therapy or who are immunosuppressed due to their cancer should follow the recommended hygiene regarding the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. This includes good hand hygiene and the distance to the sick.
• Appropriate hygiene measures make sense for everyone
• Cancer patients with weakened immune systems should always adhere to them. They also protect against other pathogens, such as the flu virus.