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https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/feb/04/revolutionary-...
Sandra Sayce often nds she is seeing a new doctor when she goes for
her regular hospital check-ups. She has a suspicion they all want to
meet her. The NHS doesnt do miracle cures and nobody, including
Sayce, is prepared to say that her advanced skin cancer has been
beaten. Yet the last treatment she had for stage 4 melanoma, which
normally kills within months, was nearly 10 years ago.
Sayce is one of the longest survivors of a new approach to cancer
treatment that has had cautious and weary doctors almost punching
the air in excitement. The 52-year-old is alive and well thanks to the
groundbreaking work of the Royal Marsden in London, the worldleading cancer hospital. Its patients and those referred from other NHS
hospitals, as Sayce was, are invited to take part in clinical trials. It is at
the cutting edge of cancer drug discovery.
Western countries have been steadily ghting back against cancer in
recent decades: Britain has recorded a 10% decline in death rates over
the past 10 years.
But growing numbers of people are still being diagnosed with the
illness. Traditional chemotherapy kills healthy cells as well as cancer
cells and there is always the possibility the disease will come back.
For Sayce, initial treatment in 2001 had appeared to clear three lesions
found in the lower part of her right leg, but in 2005 they returned with
a vengeance. She was then given immunotherapy, which teaches the
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04/02/2016, 12:17
The closest thing yet to a cure for terminal cancer? | Science | The...
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/feb/04/revolutionary-...
04/02/2016, 12:17
The closest thing yet to a cure for terminal cancer? | Science | The...
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/feb/04/revolutionary-...
04/02/2016, 12:17
The closest thing yet to a cure for terminal cancer? | Science | The...
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/feb/04/revolutionary-...
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04/02/2016, 12:17
The closest thing yet to a cure for terminal cancer? | Science | The...
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/feb/04/revolutionary-...
It is not that people dont want to do it. It is that people are too busy.
Many peoples jobs are incredibly crowded with clinical work. In some
places, the oncologists are very embattled with the number of patients.
That goes for general practice in spades. I think we need to look at that
a bit to know how we can change the way we work so we have
breathing space. I think we have a way to go in terms of challenging the
system to allow people to do it or even expect people to do it.
Topics
Cancer (Science) Cancer (Society) Health Medical research Doctors
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