PRECISION ONCOLOGY: THE FUTURE OF CANCER CARE

The future of cancer care is moving toward being personalised therapy for as each patient.

- Dr Sachin Trivedi, HOD Medical Oncology, HCG Cancer Centre, Borivali

The words “you have cancer”, changes the life of patients and their family in an instant.

They have questions and fear that that collide at the same time.

At such time patients look for hope. For decades, treatment options were limited, and doctors often had to rely on a “one-size-fits-all” approach. Some patients responded well, others didn't.

But now we are at a cusp of revolution with science giving us a new way forward—precision oncology—a form of cancer care that treats each patient as truly unique.

What Is Precision Oncology?

You may think of cancer like a lock, and treatment as the key. For years, doctors have been trying to find the right key or in cases even break the lock. Sometimes it worked, but often it didn’t. Now precision oncology gives us the possibility of ability to find right key for the lock. It does so by mapping the genetic and molecular make up of cancer and then designing or choosing the key that fits best.

Instead of focusing only on the organ where the cancer started (breast, lung, colon), precision oncology dives deeper, right into the DNA of the tumor. Every cancer has its own “fingerprint”— tiny changes in genes that make cells grow uncontrollably. By identifying those changes, doctors can select treatments that target the cancer more directly, while sparing healthy cells as much as possible.

Why This Matters for Patients

In addition, cancer patients feared the side-effects of traditional treatments like chemotherapy and radiation. It was and is effective for some patients but caused problems like hair loss, fatigue, nausea, infections. And for some patients, the treatments simply don’t work because their cancer has a different underlying biology.