Cancer cure rate

Table 1 Summary of the Present Situation Concerning Cancer Cure Rate...

Several synthetic pyrimidines and purines are useful drugs Acyclovir was the first effective antiviral compound and is used to treat herpes infections 6 Mercaptopunne is one of the drugs used to treat childhood leukemia which has become a very treatable form of cancer with a cure rate approaching 80%... 

Based on results on thousands of patients who underwent ECT for a variety of tumors, Xin32 has published extensive data in tabular from. Table 1 shows short-term (6 months) efficacy of ECT whereas Table 2 give the long-term cure rate of various cancers treated with ECT. The results, it is claimed,32 are equal to or better than those obtained by other techniques, i.e., surgery, radiation and chemotherapy. It is further claimed32 that ECT can also be applied to patients who cannot be treated by conventional techniques owing to their old age, general poor health, multiple ailments or advances cancers. 

This pediatric cancer stands as an example of how cooperative group studies (NWTS and SIOP) have been able to integrate both chemotherapy and radiation into standard therapy while minimizing side-effects and dramatically improving cure rates as seen in the improvement of the 5-yr relative survival rates from 74% in 1974-1976 to 93% in 1989-1996 (60). The fifth NWTS trial began in 1995 and is expected to continue until 2003 (see Table 5) (60). This study will search for biological prognostic factors and examine the rates of cancer and birth defects in children born to survivors of Wilms tumor. 

Modem cancer chemotherapy originated in the 1940s with the demonstration that nitrogen mustard possessed antitumor activity against human lymphomas and leukemias. Approximately 10 types of human cancer have 40 to 80% cure rates using chemotherapy alone or chemotherapy plus surgery or radiation (Table 55.1). For this purpose cure is defined as the disappearance of any evidence of tumor for several years and a high actuarial probability of a normal life span. 

Acute lymphoblastic leukemia is the most common childhood cancer with cure rates of approximately 80% of all patients (1). This success rate largely stems from collaborative clinical trials that have developed risk stratification groups. Treatment intensity is proportional to relapse risk, with patients at relapse risks receiving more intensive, and therefore toxic, therapy. Thus, the overall goal of risk stratification is to balance successful treatment against toxicity. 

In 1971 the National Cancer Act initiated a War on Cancer that many sponsors predicted would cure cancer by 1976. Instead, this multibillion dollar research program has not achieved its goal, and the age-adjusted total cancer mortality rate has been steadily climbing for decades. This despite the use of a 5-year survival as a cure even if the patient died of the cancer after the 5-year period. Why has progress... 

For reasons I cannot fathom, there is a new spirit of optimism in the field of cancer treatment. In the years since 1971, when the U. S. government instituted the War on Cancer , and the accumulated monies for research began to move into the tens of billions of dollars, the death rates from cancers have barely budged, despite a massive spate of clever new ideas and deeper understandings of the molecular biology, genetics and other basic sciences relevant to cancer. It should be, but is not, obvious to us by now, that cancer cures are difficult to find. 

In this dismal history, can we find some clue as to a possible cause and treatment I believe so, since, as we have seen, we can already, in a small number of cancer types, achieve substantial cure rates. Testicular cancer, with a cure rate approaching 100%, is the prime example of this, and this is... 

The second important technological development was the widespread availability of computerized tomographic (CT) scanning. For testicular cancer this was critical to the initial quantitation of the extent of disease in a tumor that commonly involves the retroperitoneum and mediastinum, both difficult to assess by other means. Scanning was invaluable to define the presence of residual masses following chemotherapy surgical resection of these masses has been shown to maximize cure rates. 

Compared to other solid tumors, ovarian cancer is relatively responsive to chemotherapy, but unlike testicular cancer, cure is not common for patients with advanced disease. Prior to the incorporation of cisplatin or carboplatin into treatment regimens, chemotherapy for advanced-stage ovarian cancer consisted of combinations of alkylating agents and doxorubicin. Response rates from such regimens were of the order of 33-65%, and fewer than 10% of patients survived 5 years [51]. 

Vassilikos EJ, Yu H, Trachtenberg J, et al. Relapse and cure rates of prostate cancer patients after radical prostatectomy and 5 years of foUow-up. Clin Biochem 2000 33 115-23. 

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