Cure for cancer is an unrealistic goal

Over the past five years, medicine has made great strides in the field of cancer with the use of drugs that target the immune system and achieve remarkable response rates. However, this does not mean that doctors have come close to completely treating the disease.

Finding a cure for cancer is not a realistic goal, "Fox News quoted Dr. Lisa Coussens of the Cancer Research and Development Institute as speaking at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research. "Medicine should aim to control cancer like chronic diseases similar to diabetes." 50 years ago, diabetes was the death penalty, but now it has become manageable, "female doctor explained.

In fact, since 2016, the American Cancer Society has come up with the idea of ​​recognizing certain types of cancer as chronic disease. "Cancer does not just happen once, and despite treatment, it does not always go away." Cancer can be a chronic disease, like diabetes or heart disease, the agency said.

Currently, the goal of cancer treatment is primarily to control the disease according to individual needs while preventing the tumor from growing. Normally, the treatment does not completely remove the cancer.

With the advances humanity has made, Dr. Coussens expects people to live better without cure. "Now, patients with melanoma live 2 to 5 years, even 10 years," Coussens said. "Medical achievements will help us reach our ultimate goal of improving quality of life."