As we know, cancer is a very complex and variable disease. It is very well established that solid tumors differ dramatically from one organ to another and from one transformed cell type to another that are susceptible to cancer within a particular tissue or organ.
This variability is clear at different levels: genetically, chromosomally, histologically, physiologically, pathologically, and in terms of prognosis.
However, personalized cancer medicine helps doctors to know more about a person’s genetic constitution and how their tumor is growing. In this way, it will help doctors to find prevention, screening, and treatment strategies that may be more effective. They also want to find treatments that cause fewer side effects. In order to customize the treatment to each patients needs, doctors are performing genetic tests on the cancer cells versus on normal cells.
Building a personalized screening and treatment plan
When creating a personalized screening and treatment plan, firstly, doctors must find out the chances of a patient to develop cancer and choose the best screening strategies to lower the risk.
Then, patients are matched with appropriate treatments – those which are the most effective and cause less side effects.
Finally, the risk of recurrence must be predicted, in other words, determining the chances that might lead the patient to relapse.