Luz Ángel Domínguez Coral, El Tiempo – GDA
The science has been in charge of study since ancient times the way of treatment or cure of different diseases that exist, such as cancer, which according to various projections will become increasingly common (particularly among men). However, despite efforts, many of them continue to develop without an effective cure having been found.
Cancer is a disease that every year affects millions of people in the world and despite the efforts of scientists, there are some for whom a treatment that achieves a total cure has not been found.
Almost every day oncologists and doctors include in their treatments, medications that help counteract the symptoms of different types of cancer and improve the quality of life of patients, according to the scientific secretary of the Spanish Society of Medical Oncology, Isabel Echavarría “although , in general, in oncology we are living a time of great advances for our patients, there are still tumors in which there have been no significant advances in recent years.
All in all, oncology has advanced a lot in recent years.
Photo: Commons.
On the other hand, there are other types of cancer, such as blood cancer, for which several treatments have been discovered and for which doctors must be constantly studying to “keep pace with developments.”
When asked why there is constant progress for some diseases and not for others, Echavarría mentions that in some types of tumors have greater resistance to the available treatments and that despite research, progress is not possible, and sometimes there may be less investment of resources in said research.
On the other hand, Dr. Elcira Mora Casterá from the Spanish Society of Hematology affirms that progress is being made but in support treatments, that is, in the discovery of antibiotics for the treatment of infections, as well as in vaccines.
Now, among the cancers in which it has not been possible to advance research for a cure are:
It is the eighth most common cancer in the world and it has become a challenge for oncologists and despite the scarcity of medications to treat it, some progress has been made in the study of the tumor and its characteristics.
This type of cancer has a mutation of the BRCA gene, which is also present in another such as breast cancer, among others, which makes its fight even more difficult, since the key to eliminate it has not been found.
In this cancer there are many blood vessels, cells and molecules that prevent the action of immunotherapies, a treatment that has been successful in other diseases.
Medical research continues to definitively solve cancer.
Photo: Flickr.
This is part of a type of blood cancer and T-cell lymphoma is related to the one percent of cancers that affect the lymphatic system, especially in specific antigens.
According to the professional Mora Casterá, for this disease there have been some modifications to the therapeutic strategy, however, it is not a substantial change as in the study of other diseases.
According to ‘El Español’, this tumor is little known and less commonwith the only approved pharmacological treatments being chemotherapies, whose use has not been standardized.
In European countries and the United States, different combinations of treatments are used to counteract it, however, due to lack of resources, it has not been possible to continue researching a cure.
In Spain, for example, it was requested to find that the disease could be treated with a drug formulated for colon cancer and despite the large number of patients who participated in the study, there has been a lack of funding, so it could not continue with the study. same.
Myelodysplastic syndromes
This type of cancer occurs when cells produced in the bone marrow They are altered and cause a drop in the count of various types of cells in the blood, which according to Mora Casterá is a type of ‘preleukemin’.
“In high-risk myelodysplastic syndromes there has been very little change since azacitidine appeared more than a decade ago,” says the professional, referring to this medication that is formulated for the treatment of leukemias such as chronic and acute myeloid.
acute myeloblastic leukemia
In researching this disease, Mora Casterá mentions that the progression of this disease is rapid and that the same medications have been used to treat it for many years.
This disease originates from myelocytes, which are immature cells that develop in various ways, whether in red blood cells, white blood cells or platelets.
Much progress has been made in the study of the tumor, but the most effective treatment has not yet been found.
