The Number of Completely Cured Cancer Types is Increasing Day by Day

Yeditepe University Kosuyolu Hospital Medical Oncology Specialists stated that cancer is among the diseases with the highest recovery rate among internal diseases and stated, "One-third of all cancer cases are completely cured."

Yeditepe University Kosuyolu Hospital Medical Oncology Specialists stated that according to the data announced by the World Health Organization, approximately 18 million people were diagnosed with cancer in 2018 and around 10 million people died due to cancer.

Pointing out that the most common types of cancer in the world are lung, breast, colon, prostate, and stomach cancer respectively, experts stated that lung cancer is the leading cause of loss of life, followed by colon, stomach, liver, and breast cancer, respectively. Experts stated that lung cancer is more common in men and breast cancer is more common in women when clustered according to gender, and emphasized that lung cancer has taken the first place in the list of the most common cancers in women in some countries since smoking habit has started to increase in women.

Medical Oncology Specialists stated, "According to the data of the Ministry of Health, an average of 450 new cancer diagnoses are made in our country every day and 163 thousand new cancer diagnoses are made every year. According to 2015 data, 247 out of every 100 thousand men and 177 out of every 100 thousand women are diagnosed with new cancer. In the reports of the Ministry, it is expected that there will be 22 million new cases in 2030."

Stating that it is seen that the number of people living with cancer is increasing all over the world and in Turkey, Experts noted the following:

"The number of cancer-related loss of life is decreasing in modern developed countries. Thus, the number of people living with cancer in society is increasing. Smoking, drinking alcohol, inactivity, obesity, and air pollution are among the factors that increase the frequency of cancer. It is possible to reduce the risk of developing cancer. It is enough not to smoke, not to drink alcohol, to live an active life, to organize the diet in a way to keep the appropriate weight, and to eat a diet rich in vegetables and fruits. Some poisons that are formed when food is stored under bad conditions can also cause cancer. Therefore, the storage conditions of food are important. Unfortunately, some herbs used by healthy people and some patients are not only useless or even harmful and they can also cause health problems and even cancer due to some poisons such as aflatoxin, which they contain because they are stored under poor conditions."

"One of the Most Important Developments was the Discovery of Smart Drugs"

Experts stated that some of the preventable cancer types are related to virus infections, Hepatitis B and C can cause liver cancer, Human Papillomavirus (HPV) can cause cervical, head, and neck cancers, and everyone should have hepatitis B and HPV vaccination.

Stating that cancer can develop despite all precautions, therefore early diagnosis is very important in cancer, the experts stated, "Cancer is among the diseases with the highest recovery rate among internal diseases. One-third of all cancer cases are completely cured. Complete recovery is impossible in diabetes, high blood pressure, and chronic kidney disease. However, many cancers are completely cured, and the number of these cancer types is increasing day by day. In some of the cancers without complete recovery, the disease can be suppressed, and patients can live with their diseases."

Providing information about the developments in cancer treatment, Medical Oncology Specialists noted the following:

"One of the most important developments has been the discovery of some small molecules that can be taken orally, known as smart drugs. These can prevent the signaling caused by cancer-causing gene mutations in the cell. Let me give an example of the success of smart drugs. Before 2002, the only way to fully cure chronic myeloid blood cancer was to harvest bone marrow from a healthy relative and transfer it to the patient, and the mortality rates associated with this procedure were very high. But a drug has greatly reduced the need for bone marrow transplantation. Chronic blood cancer is now one of the cancers that can be cured with a pill. Many types of cancer have now taken the form of chronic diseases, such as high blood pressure or diabetes. Today, especially in lung cancer, instead of starting treatment with direct cell-killing drugs, we first identify the mutations that cause cancer and then use drugs that stop the signaling in the cell, developed specifically for these mutations. Even in metastatic cancers, complete regression of cancer and very long-life spans can be achieved."

"Technological Developments Provided Great Achievements at Every Step"

Medical Oncology Specialists stated that one of the important developments in cancer treatment is the method called immunotherapy and stated, "Some receptors were found on a type of immune cell. When these are blocked with certain drugs, it has been shown that immune cells begin to recognize the tumor as a foreign tissue. One feature of these drugs is that they provide a complete response even in some cancers that have spread, regardless of where cancer started, and these responses sometimes last long enough to mean complete recovery. With special staining and examinations in pathology and molecular pathology laboratories, we can predict which cancers will respond to immunotherapy."

Stating that technological developments provide great achievements at every step from diagnosis to treatment, Yeditepe University Kosuyolu Hospital Medical Oncology Specialists concluded their words as follows:

"Nanotechnology has revolutionized the delivery of drugs in cancer tissue. With positron emission tomography (PET), not only the area of cancer but also the aggressiveness of the tumor can be visualized. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (functional MRI) can be used to take still images of the brain as well as images of the brain during certain activities. Thanks to gene engineering, it is expected that the specific mutation in each patient will be identified in the future and drugs will be administered accordingly. In fact, these treatments have already in motion. It is possible to take the patient's cancer tissue and reproduce it in cell culture, to enable the patient's immune cells to recognize tumor antigens and to return these cells to the patient intravenously. It is known to be effective in lymphomas. Unfortunately, the desired success rate has not been achieved yet. Another problem with these methods is the standardization of the procedures."