Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Death rates are declining for many common cancers in the U.S., report finds

statnews.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–80 of 99 posts

Re: Death rates are declining for many common cancers in the U.S., report finds

#71

Post by jhgb »

gambiting wrote: post #23
paulpauper wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

for a 40 year old diagnosed with stage 4 cancer ,a few extra years ain't much

Are you kidding me????? My dad was diagnosed with a very rare type of stomach cancer called GIST at 42. The average survivability at that stage for GIST at that time was 6-12 months. Zero patients lived more than 5 years. He was given experimental(at the time) drug called Glivec as it was being tested specifically against GIST and it was literally one of these "there's nothing else, so might as well". He lived anothe…

To be honest, eight years is not what I'd imagine as "a few". That's actually quite a lot.

Re: Death rates are declining for many common cancers in the U.S., report finds

#72

Post by trashface »

0xF57A wrote: post #58

I wonder if someone could give me feedback on this. I heard that basically all cancer cells switch over to aerobic respiration, ie fermentation, and that in this metabolic mode they can use glucose and the amino acid glutamine as fuel but not ketones. So some people have treated their cancer by eating zero carbohydrates and taking a special drug that disables glutamine, doing so intermittently, and they have seen inc…

There is a clinical trial investigating the ketogenic diet for prostate cancer: https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03194516

Re: Death rates are declining for many common cancers in the U.S., report finds

#73

Post by redis_mlc »

cancerhacker wrote: post #54

I created this account on July 28, 2014 [1] - I had(have?) stage IV Colon Cancer with liver metastases. I did a FOLFIRI regime with cetaximab, then a colon resection with a general surgeon. My oncologist was great (ucsf medical center) - but the surgeon refused to address my liver mets - they were too large and distributed. My wife found out about a specialist at Sloan-Kettering in Manhattan that uses something calle…

Was getting the treatment worth it?

Are you able to have a normal life now?

Are you on dialysis forever?

Re: Death rates are declining for many common cancers in the U.S., report finds

#74

Post by deepzn »

throwaway894345 wrote: post #7
opportune wrote: post #5

A 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…

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…

Figuring out the costs, and who's going to pay for it is one thing, and it's serious - I hope we find solutions there. But, in terms of being gamechangers, my hope is in 10-20 years we will be able to identify genes causing cancer mutations and use CRISPR to edit them out. All this will need massive breakthroughs in leveraging AI , ML and Big Data. Hope we can put an end to Cancer this century at the latest, would prefer it sooner in my lifetime, but I know this is our (humans) ultimate rival /enemy in the game of Life.

Re: Death rates are declining for many common cancers in the U.S., report finds

#75

Post by refurb »

gregwebs wrote: post #67
GhostVII wrote: post #31

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.

If someone wants a different take on why cancer treatment has progressed very slowly, there is "Cancer, Incorporated" by Ralph Moss.

Sounds like a conspiratorial book that blames the very companies that have created drugs that keep cancer patients alive.

Re: Death rates are declining for many common cancers in the U.S., report finds

#76

Post by asveikau »

cancerhacker wrote: post #54

I created this account on July 28, 2014 [1] - I had(have?) stage IV Colon Cancer with liver metastases. I did a FOLFIRI regime with cetaximab, then a colon resection with a general surgeon. My oncologist was great (ucsf medical center) - but the surgeon refused to address my liver mets - they were too large and distributed. My wife found out about a specialist at Sloan-Kettering in Manhattan that uses something calle…

Continued good luck to you. Congratulations on making it this far.

Re: Death rates are declining for many common cancers in the U.S., report finds

#77

Post by oleander73 »

nerdponx wrote: post #18
devmor wrote: post #11

I 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.

Sometimes with humans we spend too much effort extending life without considering quality of life.

I have incurable cancer and I wish I had the option of going to the vet to "move to a farm upstate."

Re: Death rates are declining for many common cancers in the U.S., report finds

#78

Post by nerdponx »

oleander73 wrote: post #77
nerdponx wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sometimes with humans we spend too much effort extending life without considering quality of life.

I have incurable cancer and I wish I had the option of going to the vet to "move to a farm upstate."

I'm so sorry to hear that.

Re: Death rates are declining for many common cancers in the U.S., report finds

#79

Post by dieselerator »

I am happy to see there is progress, but the death rate still feels high.

I am thankful for vaccines. If they can stop the cancer before it gets you and me I will be thankful for that as well . I think that people have been hoping for a cure for a long time. I am not optimistic that there will be a cure in time for me, but I hope just like everyone else.

Here is the link to the actual report: Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer, Part 1: National Cancer Statistics (PDF only) [0]

[0] https://academic.oup.com/jnci/advance-article-pdf/doi/10.109...>

Re: Death rates are declining for many common cancers in the U.S., report finds

#80

Post by chefkoch »

hanniabu wrote: post #22
throwaway894345 wrote: post #7

Earlier 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.

How much will a bit of sequencing and CPU time cost? 5k what genomic sequencing for other cancers cost is peanuts in cancer care. There are many drugs where one infusion (of many needed) is more expensive than that.
Post reply on HN