A number of Spanish scientific publications, among them Medical Writing y HealthIn addition to the latest advances in oncology, they are also the occasion to announce the expansion of novel techniques that promise to change the mortality and survival data of patients.
From our editorial staff
At the beginning of January 2023, the Spanish publication Medical Writing interviewed Oscar Juan Vidal, oncologist at the Hospital Universitario y Politécnico de Valencia, and Mariano Povencio, head of the Oncology Department at the Hospital Puerta de Hierro Majadahond, which in 2022 was the hospital center with the best corporate reputation in Spain in the area of Oncology.
Both professionals explained to the aforementioned magazine that immunotherapy and molecular diagnostics are two of the significant achievements of oncology in Spain, a country which, with the introduction of these treatments, underpins its position as one of the countries with significant advances in this branch of medicine.
Spain has thirteen hospitals with accredited excellence in oncology treatment. One of these is Puente de Hierro Majadahonda, recognized earlier this year with the QOPI (Quality Oncology Practice Initiative) distinction, awarded by the American Society of Clinical Oncology and the Echo Foundation. With this distinction, the Iberian country is one of the three with the most QOPY awards, behind the USA and Brazil.
Significant advances in the fight against cancer
The expansion of access to molecular diagnostics is a very important step forward in the care of cancer patients, including apparently healthy and asymptomatic people whose cancer can be detected before any other diagnostic system is able to do so, gaining valuable time, since the cancer is attacked before it can be detected with traditional techniques and allowing personalized treatment, Dr. Juan Vidal pointed out.
In addition, neoadjuvant chemo-immunotherapy may become one of the major milestones in cancer treatment, said Mariano Provencio in the aforementioned interview.
Changing paradigms
Immunotherapy in cancer patients is one of the recent paradigm shifts in recent oncology. The treatment is a biotherapy that boosts the immune system's ability to recognize and attack mutant tumor cells, explains the publication The interactive doctor (https://elmedicointeractivo.com/avances-oncologia-entre-remision-y-curacion/).
Patient mortality and survival data will change in the coming years with new therapies for cancer treatment, he says The interactive doctorwhich also mentions the possibility of a definitive cure in some types of tumor, although the source cited clarifies that doctors prefer to speak of remission.
However, a novel term being linked to cancer is "chronification," which could mean that many people can live with cancer just as one lives with diabetes or hypertension, or any other chronic disease.
Other advances in oncology this year associate immunotherapy with other drugs, which may mean new hope for patients. In addition to these advances, there are expectations about the role that artificial intelligence could play in diagnosis and prognosis. This is viewed with great hope by physicians, who consider 2023 to be a hopeful year for patients.
