Precision and Personalized Medicine

Precision Medicine in Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment

The goal of surgery is to remove the cancer or as much of the cancer as possible. Chemotherapy uses drugs to kill cancer cells. Radiation therapy uses high-powered energy beams, such as X-rays, to kill cancer cells. Radiation treatment can come from a machine outside your body or it can be placed inside your body (brachytherapy). Bone marrow transplant is also known as a stem cell transplant. Your bone marrow is the material inside your bones that makes blood cells. A bone marrow transplant can use your own cells or cells from a donor. A bone marrow transplant allows your doctor to use higher doses of chemotherapy to treat your cancer. It may also be used to replace diseased bone marrow. Immunotherapy, also known as biological therapy, uses your body's immune system to fight cancer. Cancer can survive unchecked in your body because your immune system doesn't recognize it as an intruder. Immunotherapy can help your immune system "see" the cancer and attack it. Some types of cancer are fuelled by your body's hormones. Examples include breast cancer and prostate cancer. Removing those hormones from the body or blocking their effects may cause the cancer cells to stop growing. Targeted drug treatment focuses on specific abnormalities within cancer cells that allow them to survive. Clinical trials are studies to investigate new ways of treating cancer. Thousands of cancer clinical trials are underway.