World Cancer Day Special-Precision Oncology and personalized medicine

II. Next Generation Sequencing: Massive Parallel Sequencing of tumor DNA / RNA to detect specific mutations in the genome which could have been the cause of his / her cancer. Once a mutation is detected, we also get to know if this is hereditary and if there is any drug that can target this mutation. This makes Cancer treatments more personalized. BRCA gene testing in breast and ovarian cancers, EGFR, ALK, Ros testing in lung cancers, MSI testing in colonic, and many other cancers are examples.

III. Targeted Therapies: These medicines are a direct consequence of our ability to delineate targets in individual tumurs through various molecular tests including Next Generation Sequencing. Most of the targeted therapies come in tablet form which makes administration very easy for the patients and avoids multiple chemotherapy injections.

V. Developments in supportive care: Array of new Medicines have come up in the last decade which is much more effective in tackling nausea and vomiting associated with chemotherapies. Scalp cooling machines are available, which prevent hair loss for patients on chemotherapy. Various interventions from Radiology and Pain Medicine have made treatments more tolerable and the journey of fighting against cancer more comfortable than ever before.

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