Imagine a world without cancer

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited.Abstract Background Since the War on Cancer was declared in 1971, the United States alone has expended some $300 billion on research, with a heavy focus on the role of genomics in anticancer therapy. Voluminous data have been collected and analyzed. However, in hindsight, any achievements made have not been realized in clinical practice in terms of overall survival or quality of life extended. This might be justified because cancer is not one disease but a conglomeration of multiple diseases, with widespread heterogeneity even within a single tumor type. Discussion Only a few types of cancer have been described that are associated with one major signaling pathway. This enabled the initial successful deployment of targeted therapy for such cancers. However, soon after this targeted approach was initiated, it was subverted as cancer cells learned and reacted to the initial treatments, oftentimes rendering the treatment less effective or even completely ineffective. During the past 30 plus years, the cancer classification used had, as its primary aim, the facilitation of communication and the exchange of information amongst those caring for cancer patients with the end goal of establishing a standardized approach for the diagnosis and treatment of cancers. This approach should be modified based on the recent research to affect a change from a service-based to an outcome-based approach. The vision of achieving long-term control and/or eradicating or curing cancer is far from being realized, but not impossible. In order to meet the challenges in getting there, any newly proposed anticancer strategy must integrate a personalized treatment outcome approach. This concept is predicated on tumor- and patient-associated variables, combined with an individualized response assessment strategy for therapy modification as suggested by the patients own results. As combined strategies may be outcome-orientated and integrate tumor-, patient- as well as cancer-preventive variables, this approach is likely to result in an optimized anticancer strategy. Summary Herein, we introduce such an anticancer strategy for all cancer patients, experts, and organizations: Imagine a World without Cancer

Surgical liver resection in multimodal therapy of hepatic malignat affections: A 4-year study

BACKGROUND: The goal of our study was to evaluate our hitherto 4-year surgical treatment of liver malignancies. METHODS: Our team performed 43 liver resections from 1997 to 2000. Of these, 10 were primary tumours and 33 metastases. The most frequent indication for resection in our sample was for colorectal cancer - in total 27 patients. Metastatic pancreatic cancer or metastases of malignant melanoma account for rarer indications to surgery We considered CT arterioportography (CTAP) as the most significant preoperative examination from all available radiological methods. RESULTS Proper resection of the liver is possible even without special technical equipment. No patient between the ages of 22 - 82 years died in the 30-day postoperative period. Our postoperative morbidity was 18.6%. The most frequent complication was prolonged biliary secretion from drains. In our study, recurrent liver malignancies occurred most frequently within 6 months from the primary resection. CONCLUSION: Radical resection procedure may be facilitated for the greatest number of patients with primary or metastatic liver malignancies by the cohesive cooperation of a number of specialists

Original article UDC: 616.36-006.04:616-089.8:615-085"1997/2000" Archive of Oncology 2002;10(1):1-5.

Surgical liver resection in multimodal therapy of hepatic malignant affections: A 4-year stud

Imagine a world without cancer

Background: Since the “War on Cancer” was declared in 1971, the United States alone has expended some $300 billion on research, with a heavy focus on the role of genomics in anticancer therapy. Voluminous data have been collected and analyzed. However, in hindsight, any achievements made have not been realized in clinical practice in terms of overall survival or quality of life extended. This might be justified because cancer is not one disease but a conglomeration of multiple diseases, with widespread heterogeneity even within a single tumor type. Discussion: Only a few types of cancer have been described that are associated with one major signaling pathway. This enabled the initial successful deployment of targeted therapy for such cancers. However, soon after this targeted approach was initiated, it was subverted as cancer cells learned and reacted to the initial treatments, oftentimes rendering the treatment less effective or even completely ineffective. During the past 30 plus years, the cancer classification used had, as its primary aim, the facilitation of communication and the exchange of information amongst those caring for cancer patients with the end goal of establishing a standardized approach for the diagnosis and treatment of cancers. This approach should be modified based on the recent research to affect a change from a service-based to an outcome-based approach. The vision of achieving long-term control and/or eradicating or curing cancer is far from being realized, but not impossible. In order to meet the challenges in getting there, any newly proposed anticancer strategy must integrate a personalized treatment outcome approach. This concept is predicated on tumor- and patient-associated variables, combined with an individualized response assessment strategy for therapy modification as suggested by the patient’s own results. As combined strategies may be outcome-orientated and integrate tumor-, patient- as well as cancer-preventive variables, this approach is likely to result in an optimized anticancer strategy