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Cancer research around the world.
Cancer has always existed but, as it is mostly an old age disease - the risk increases significantly after 50 - not many people developed it before, compared with today. It is now estimated that one in three or four Swedes gets cancer at some point during their life. This is much more than just 20 to 30 years ago. However, the mortality rate has not increased, on the contrary, it has somewhat decreased. The possibility of being cured has thus increased over the years and is now at 50% compared to much less before. This improvement is due to gradually improved methods for detecting and treating cancer. Formerly there was only the burning iron and the knife to use as weapons against cancer but approximately 100 years ago other methods of treatment were being introduced at shorter and shorter intervals:
| Radiation treatment
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1900 |
| Hormone treatment
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1920 – 1930 |
| Cytostatica (chaemo-therapy)
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1940 – 1950 |
| Enzyme treatment |
1960 |
| Interferon treatment
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1970 |
| Photodynamic (laser) treatment |
1980 |
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Immune treatment |
1990 |
| Radio-immune treatment |
1990 |
As the list of treatment methods grows, the "old ones" have been refined, e.g. radiation and chemotherapy regimens have become more efficient (e.g. in combination with bone marrow transplants). Of the new methods on trial, vaccinations and attempts to cut off the blood supply to tumours are worth mentioning. It is also important to apply the available methods in the most efficient way since different cancer tumours are sensitive to different treatments. With chaemotherapy alone there are something like 20 different medicines to choose from. Unfortunately it takes many years before important discoveries in the laboratories are applied in clinical decision making. It is an arduous process where treatment efficacy and patient safety needs to be carefully followed. The important news are found in scientific publications that are made publically available at scientific meetings (conferences etc).
Dick Killander, consultant, oncological clinic, University Hospital, Lund
Clas-Ebbe Lindholm, consultant, oncological clinic, University Hospital MAS, Malmö.
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