Skin cancer ‘milestone’
As recently as a decade ago, metastatic melanoma (one that spreads to distant parts of the body) was considered virtually untreatable. It’s one of the most aggressive cancers and spreads rapidly. But, says the Royal Marsden Hospital in London, in the future half of patients with advanced melanoma could survive the condition.
Thanks to new immunotherapy treatments, the five-year survival rate had by 2014 reached around 25%. Now, doctors have trialled a therapy involving drugs ipilimumab and nivolumab, and found it boosts the rate still further.
The study involved 945 patients. Of those given the two drugs combined, 52% survived five years compared with 44% of those given just nivolumab, and 26% of those taking only ipilimumab.
Professor James Larkin, an oncologist on the study, said: “By giving these drugs together you are effectively taking two brakes off the immune system rather than one, so that the immune system is able to recognise tumours it wasn’t previously recognising, and react to that and destroy them.”
Ifeel very strongly that an older person, despite some ill health and disability, has the right to have their independence respected. In our increasingly high-tech world, technology can further that aim. And the UK is committed to helping people live independently for longer and encourages innovation to bring it about.
It turns out we could save £100billion on social care over the next 15 years with better, earlier diagnosis and the clever use of technology. In one example, the Alzheimer’s Society is funding the development of clever new technology products through the Dementia Research Institute.
We must invest otherwise hundreds of thousands of families will be left to cope alone, without the resources they need.
The £26billion spent each year on dementia care in the UK could be significantly reduced if the symptoms of the disease were delayed by five years, says the Alzheimer’s Society. This would enable people to retain their independence and stay in the family home.
To further this goal, the £98million government-funded healthy ageing programme is sponsoring competitions to encourage new ideas for products, services and business models to help us all – both those with dementia and and clock
those without – live healthier, happier and more independent lives as we age. The projects will have to show that they tackle the challenges of older life including “living well with cognitive impairment”.
A company called Unforgettable was set up four years ago by James Ashwell to provide products to help people with dementia. He’d been looking after his mother after she developed young-onset dementia and had struggled to find products to help her live independently. His first item was a two-in-one calendar and day clock, which is still one of the company’s best-sellers.
An easy-to-read typeface allows the level of information to be adjusted as a person’s dementia progresses, and preset reminders tell people with dementia when their meal times are imminent, give them a schedule for taking medication and remind them when their favourite television programmes are about to start.
And many more clever aids are on the way. In June 2019, Unforgettable was acquired by Live Better With, a company that aims to improve the day-to-day life of people living with long-term health problems.
Live Better With recently introduced its Canary Care Home Monitoring System, designed to alert carers to fridge, kettle, tap and late-night door use in the home of a person with a dementia. It doesn’t invade privacy because it doesn’t use a camera.
We’re getting there.
We must invest or thousands will be left to cope without resources