Editor’s Note: After refuting the statement that [advanced cancer is really incurable], this article provides some treatment methods for advanced cancer. Of course, according to the difference of family economic situation and outlook on life, when facing advanced cancer, patients and their families can decide whether to receive treatment and which treatment to receive according to the doctor’s advice.
Systemic therapy-drug therapy is the main treatment for advanced cancer. Drug therapy includes chemotherapy, hormone therapy, targeted drug therapy, immunotherapy and drug therapy for bone metastases. 1. Chemotherapy is ineffective? That’s a rumor. Chemotherapy, There is still great curative effect in most advanced cancers. Although drug resistance often occurs in advanced cancers, However, chemotherapy is still the first choice for treatment. Chemotherapy may not necessarily prolong the survival time of patients with advanced cancer. But it inhibits tumor growth, It can even reduce tumors, Thus improving symptoms and quality of life. In the New England Journal, A clinical trial study involving 547 patients with advanced laryngeal cancer showed that Patients with combined radiotherapy and chemotherapy were more likely to receive chemotherapy than those with radiotherapy alone, After treatment, a larger proportion of patients maintained a functioning throat (88% vs 70%). Moreover, the former has better local control rate and longer disease-free survival time. Studies show that, Chemotherapy can better suppress distant cancer metastases [1]. Another study in the New England Journal shows that Chemotherapy for advanced malignant tumors in the head and neck, Survival time is longer than that without chemotherapy. Adverse reactions caused by chemotherapy have not increased [2]. In 2007, scientists combined 16 clinical trials (including 2,714 patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer), It is found that chemotherapy can improve the 12-month survival rate of advanced non-small cell lung cancer by 9%. [3] In addition, There is a clinical trial involving 420 patients with advanced colon cancer. The results of the trial suggest that, After taking oxaliplatin, a chemotherapy drug, Progression-free survival (i.e. The time the tumor was controlled and did not deteriorate again) increased by an average of 2.8 months. The response rate of tumors to drugs increased by 28.4%. This test shows that oxaliplatin, a chemotherapy drug, has a good effect on patients with advanced colon cancer. [4] For more specific chemotherapy schemes for advanced cancers, Need oncologists to specify, here will not repeat here. [Chemotherapy Ineffective Theory] is a rumor created by supporters of selective medicine. For details, see < < Medicine has finally admitted that cancer cells do not need chemotherapy at all. < < < Medicine has finally admitted that cancer cells do not need chemotherapy at all? > > [5] 2. There are also some special drugs for the treatment of bone metastasis, It is aimed at bone metastases from advanced cancer, Can relieve bone pain, Reduce the risk of pathological fracture. The most commonly used is zoledronic acid. It can inhibit the activity of osteoclasts in bones. Osteoclasts are a common class of cells in bones. It breaks down and absorbs bone. When a tumor invades a bone, Osteoclasts are hyperactive, Thus causing massive bone destruction, Causing pathological fracture. Zoledronic acid inhibits osteoclast activity, It also inhibits the invasion and destruction of bone by tumor cells, Alleviates bone pain in patients with advanced cancer. 3. Targeted drugs: Hope for cure targeted drug therapy, Is a relatively new cancer therapy, It represents the hope of curing cancer in the future. Cancer cells need some important molecular substances (targets) in the process of growth, progress and metastasis. Drugs specially designed by scientists to interfere with these molecules are targeted drugs. Compared with traditional chemotherapy, Targeted drug therapy has more accurate killing of cancer cells, But there are only smaller side effects. At present, targeted drugs are used in the treatment of advanced cancer. Good results have been achieved. However, it is worth noting that Targeted drugs are expensive. Gefitinib for advanced non-small cell lung cancer, By inhibiting a molecule called epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase, This enzyme is usually expressed in solid tumors of epithelial origin. Phase III clinical trials show that patients with advanced Asian non-small cell lung cancer receiving gefitinib, The median survival time was 9.5 months, Compared with 5.5 months of placebo, The average increase was 4 months. [6] 4. Hormone therapy: Block [keyhole] with [fake key] hormone therapy, Also known as endocrine therapy, It has good curative effect on some advanced cancers with positive expression of sex hormone receptors. Broadly speaking, Hormone therapy belongs to targeted drug therapy. Sex hormones, sex hormone receptors, cancer cells, It is equivalent to keys, keyholes and doors. Sex hormones act on sex hormone receptors on the surface of cancer cells. It stimulates the growth and division of cancer cells, It is equivalent to inserting the key into the keyhole, The door will open. There are two main mechanisms for hormone therapy: One is to make a fake key to fill the keyhole. Let sex hormones, which are the real keys, fail to work. The most typical example is, Tamoxifen is the treatment of advanced breast cancer. Its structure is very similar to estrogen. It can competitively bind to estrogen receptors on the surface of breast cancer cells, The effect of estrogen on stimulating cancer cells is greatly reduced. Tamoxifen has a history of more than 30 years. It is an old anti-cancer drug. Tamoxifen can prevent the growth of advanced breast cancer. It can even shrink the tumor. Besides, Similar to tamoxifen, Can produce curative effect on advanced breast cancer, There are also Toremifen and Fluvisquen. [7] The other is to find ways to make real keys impossible. Scientists have found an enzyme called aromatase in the human body. This enzyme can help the human body synthesize estrogen in ovaries and other tissues. If aromatase is inhibited, Then the synthesis of estrogen in the body can be reduced. Aromatase inhibitors currently include anastrozole, letrozole and exemestane. Anastrozole and letrozole, In menopausal women with estrogen receptor positive advanced breast cancer, It is used as initial treatment. These two drugs, With the addition of exemestane, It can be used to treat estrogen receptor positive advanced breast cancer patients who fail tamoxifen therapy. [8] But hormone therapy has a premise, It is only when cancer cells have positive expression of sex hormone receptors. 5. Immunotherapy: It’s still in the research stage, and there’s also immunotherapy, Also known as [biotherapy]. Its main idea is, It is by enhancing the body’s own immunity, To destroy cancer cells. But most of them are still in the research stage. Not yet in clinical use. In immunotherapy, Some methods use interferon, immune checkpoint blockers, Its function is [non-specific], In other words, Although it can enhance self-immunity and eliminate cancer cells, But at the same time, it will also damage its normal cells. Immunotherapy, which is really aimed at cancer cells and does not damage normal cells, Currently approved by FDA for clinical use, Only the cancer vaccine Provenge, which treats advanced prostate cancer, It can improve the 4-month survival time of patients with advanced cancer [9]. In addition, CAR-T in adoptive cell therapy is worth looking forward to. The essence of this therapy is to use genetic engineering. The patient’s own immune cells are modified and processed, High expression of specific receptors (chimeric antigen receptors), Enhance the ability to attack cancer cells. In some early and small-scale clinical trials, it has shown good curative effect on acute lymphoblastic leukemia. But more research is needed, At present, it has not been approved by FDA. [10] Foreign countries are still in the cautious research stage. [Cancer Immunotherapy] is widely promoted in China. In fact, this is a medical scam. Most of them are obsolete therapies (such as CIK, DC-CIK), Southern Weekend, Guangming.com, Voice of China and other media have all exposed it. As we mentioned earlier in “How to See through the Fraud of Cancer Treatment”, a doctor and his invention of “Autologous Blood Activation Therapy”, It belongs to one of the domestic immunotherapy scams. In short, even in the advanced stage of cancer, there are still many formal treatment measures that can be adopted. It is not advisable to blindly give up formal treatment or even listen to the deception of choosing medicine such as traditional Chinese medicine.