- We are in the midst of a scientific revolution that has led to clearer understanding of how cancer develops. Traditional treatment methods are thrown overboard and new, successful and better tolerated therapies are introduced.
- Targeted therapy and several forms of immune therapy are increasingly being used for treatment of cancer, but chemotherapy is still an essential component of cancer treatment.
- Chemotherapy is still the standard treatment in many tumors, but is increasingly being replaced by ‘targeted therapy', immunotherapy and direct genetic modification of the immune system.
- These new treatment approaches are not associated with the conventional side effects of chemotherapy, but they also often have their own specific side effects.
- Surgical measures still are an important mainstay of cancer treatment, with current attempts aiming to minimize surgical intervention.
- Radiation therapy will be more precisely focused on the tumor, thereby reducing the risk of damaging healthy tissue.
- More and more cancer drugs will be available as oral medicines while the use of intravenous chemotherapy will decline.
