If you are interested in more of the history behind the different cancer treatments that we have today, "The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer" is a fantastic book about it. Probably my favourite book of all time, a lot of parallels with the themes in this article about prevention being a huge contributor, and how recently we've had some success in very targeted cancer drugs.
Death rates are declining for many common cancers in the U.S., report finds
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Re: Death rates are declining for many common cancers in the U.S., report finds
#32In addition to medical developments, I think that clean living has become more popular than ever. In 2021, you see people who would never have been interested in a healthy diet eating properly. And obesity is an significant risk factor for cancer.
The obesity rate has continued to increase.
Consider the other additives like food coloring or preservatives.
But yes diabetes isn't going down.
Re: Death rates are declining for many common cancers in the U.S., report finds
#33There was a giant uptick in personalized treatment for cancer[1] that coincided with the end of the Obama era (Biden driving it after his son's death, in 2015). I saw bits of it in my space with large scale analysis of genomic testing - particularly things like analyzing old drugs with new genomic data (drugs which failed in the past, retesting for the combo of the cancer:personal-genome SNPs). My friend went through…
I don't hate the idea about personalized treatments, however this will be the excuse by physicians why they can't be replaced by AI and we need to continue the myth of medicine being Art and Science.
Re: Death rates are declining for many common cancers in the U.S., report finds
#34Earlier quoted context omitted.
One of the interesting developments is precision medicine: we can now use genomic sequencing and AI to "search" for the treatment that is most likely to be effective against a particular individual's cancer rather than following the rough "standard of care" playbook (for example, depending on the type of cancer, the standard of care might be 6 months of chemo, and if that doesn't work try something else, repeat until…
This sounds like something insurance will either refuse to cover for being expensive or make you try 5 other approaches first before agreeing to cover it, at which point it'll probably be too late.
Small consolation, but I believe GINA should prevent that behavior. https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-professionals/special-topics/g...
Re: Death rates are declining for many common cancers in the U.S., report finds
#35In addition to medical developments, I think that clean living has become more popular than ever. In 2021, you see people who would never have been interested in a healthy diet eating properly. And obesity is an significant risk factor for cancer.
What does clean living mean? Living in small towns away from pollution? Washing produce more thoroughly?
They mean thinking about your diet, exercise, mental welling and other health issues. It doesn't literally mean 'clean' as in 'not dirty'.
Re: Death rates are declining for many common cancers in the U.S., report finds
#36I agree, my dad was diagnosed with stage 3 colon cancer in 2020. One of the drugs that he was given as part of the anti-cancer regimen "Avastin" - starves the tumor of blood supply, effectively limiting growth, this differs from conventional chemo which attacks both healthy and cancer cells. After 22 cycles, he went into remission earlier this year.
Are there no downsides to Avastin? How long is a cycle?
still harsh side effects. just not as brutal as chemo. the cycle depends. my mother is on it indefinitely.
Re: Death rates are declining for many common cancers in the U.S., report finds
#37Earlier quoted context omitted.
One of the interesting developments is precision medicine: we can now use genomic sequencing and AI to "search" for the treatment that is most likely to be effective against a particular individual's cancer rather than following the rough "standard of care" playbook (for example, depending on the type of cancer, the standard of care might be 6 months of chemo, and if that doesn't work try something else, repeat until…
This sounds like something insurance will either refuse to cover for being expensive or make you try 5 other approaches first before agreeing to cover it, at which point it'll probably be too late.
Unlikely. It will rule out treatments that are unlikely to work, saving money. What we are seeing is Simpson’s paradox. Genomics and precision medicine allow you to segment populations at a higher resolution then before.
Re: Death rates are declining for many common cancers in the U.S., report finds
#38A close family member has stage 4 cancer. Even if the absolute death rates for some cancers are relatively unchanged, one of the amazing things I’ve observed is that medical advances have increased the long term survival rates of terminal/metastaticized cancers. It’s partially due to the development of various drugs that have been identified as effective against various specific mutations. Even if the cancer is incur…
for a 40 year old diagnosed with stage 4 cancer ,a few extra years ain't much
if you measure in terms of percentage, sure. But not everything is statistical... considering that this 40 year old has not planned to be not-around so soon, these few extra years might allow this 40 year old to sort out and settle certain affairs that would allow them and their family to part with more "acceptance".
Re: Death rates are declining for many common cancers in the U.S., report finds
#39I just wish it were the same for pets. We've lost two cats to cancer in the past two years. There's so much they can do to extend quality of life, but not much in the way of actually extending their lives.
This is very heart breaking. I love my cat just like a child, he's my everything, and I spend an important part of my day, playing with him, taking care of him etc. Seeing him dead would absolutely devastate me: but being a 20 something, it's very likely this will happen sometime in my lifetime (my cat is 2 years old)!
Cats can live a pretty long time however. My grandmas two cats (sisters) lived from when I was 7 years old, to when I was 27 years old, and both died just months apart from each other. That's pretty good I think.
Re: Death rates are declining for many common cancers in the U.S., report finds
#40I just wish it were the same for pets. We've lost two cats to cancer in the past two years. There's so much they can do to extend quality of life, but not much in the way of actually extending their lives.
I have a pet-theory (see what I did there...) about pets; they remind us to appreciate and keep dear to us, not just pets, but the people around us.