SARAH’S SURGERY
Dr Sarah Brewer rounds up the positive developments in prevention, treatment and support THE LATEST NEWS ABOUT CANCER
The fact that one in two of us will get cancer might sound scary, but there have been brilliant improvements in cancer screening, diagnosis and treatment, meaning longer survival times and increased chances of a cure. Cancer survival in the UK has doubled in 40 years, and hopefully will increase further.
WHAT IS CANCER?
Cancer develops when a mutation within a single cell makes it divide repeatedly, rather than just occasionally, to replace worn-out cells. The copy cells are also abnormal and do not respond to the usual instructions to stop growing. If the immune system does not recognise and destroy these cells, they continue to divide and invade surrounding tissues. Once the tumour reaches a certain size, abnormal cells may break away and spread through blood and lymph vessels to other parts of the body.
These secondaries (metastases) most commonly take root and continue to grow in the lungs, bones, liver or brain.
TREATMENT INNOVATIONS
There are some really positive developments in cancer treatment. New blood tests are being developed to monitor patients after cancer surgery, which could save some from unnecessary additional treatments, such as chemotherapy or radiotherapy.
In a study, 500 patients recovering from bladder cancer surgery either
DID YOU KNOW? One in two cancer patients can now expect to survive for at least 10 years.
received an immunotherapy drug called atezolizumab or normal monitoring. All patients also had a new screening test looking for signs of cancer DNA in their blood. Atezolizumab reduced the risk of a bladder cancer returning by around 40% if tumour DNA was in the patients’ blood and even cleared the tumour DNA from the blood of around one in five patients.
Another fantastic development is
CAR T-cell therapy. This is a highly personalised treatment in which a patient’s immune T cells are harvested and altered so they recognise a particular protein, called CD19, found on lymphoma and leukaemia cells. After a few weeks, these primed T cells are then fed back into the bloodstream to attack the cancer cells. Cancer Research UK is helping to fund a new treatment, called ALETA-001, to boost CAR T-cell therapy and ‘reboot’ treatment for people whose blood cancer starts to come back.
Plus, Mr Daniel Leff, an honorary consultant in oncoplastic breast surgery
at Imperial College, is working with the department of Biosurgery and Surgical Technology to develop an ‘intelligent knife’ for precision cancer surgery and a ‘Mammobot’ for early breast cancer detection, funded by Cancer Research UK.
When it comes to male-specific cancers, there’s a significant new treatment that uses two types of radiotherapy to attack advanced prostate cancer (thanks to funds raised by the men’s health campaign Movember). It simultaneously blasts the prostate with radiation from outside the body while using a radioactive ‘tumourseeking’ drug, radium 223, internally. A clinical trial has shown that the new treatment slows the progression of prostate cancer in men whose disease has spread to their bones.
SUPPORT FOR PATIENTS
Gone are the days where you’d have to suffer cancer in silence. There are now many fantastic platforms designed to help cancer patients through every step of their journey. Percihealth.com is the world’s first online platform to give people access to support from multidisciplinary cancer teams; it recently launched with the backing of leading oncologists and cancer surgeons across the UK.
Perci’s mission is to challenge the status quo for those living with cancer and change perceptions about life after treatment. It offers access to a range of experienced cancer professionals to focus on recovery from a physical, mental, social and emotional point of view. Support is individually tailored to address problems such as chronic fatigue, relationship
DID YOU KNOW? Eight in 10 women diagnosed with breast cancer will survive their disease for 10 years or more.
difficulties, returning to work, genetic counselling, dietary advice and more.
And women’s cancer charity Victoria’s Promise has launched an app to support women facing the realities of tackling cancer, providing access to a highly supportive community at every stage in their journey. It also offers partners, parents and siblings a safe place to talk and share their experiences, as well as gain support and insights. The app provides webinars, workshops and other resources, offering round-the-clock support for women with cancer.