The end of the year is a time to reflect on the past twelve months, and for a private oncologist, this often involves looking at the ways in which technological and scientific advancement has allowed them to save more lives and will help them save even more in the years that follow.

One of the most vital parts of cancer research is in diagnosis, as the sooner a cancerous lump is found, the sooner a treatment plan can be developed and the more options for treatment a person has.

With this in mind, here are some of the biggest stories in the field of oncology and cancer research over the past year, and how they help keep people alive now and in the future.

Artificial Intelligence Can Predict Which Cancer Drugs Will Work

In April 2022, Professor Udai Banerji and his team at the Institute for Cancer Research developed a prototype AI-driven test that can find drug combinations likely to be effective to treat specific patients in less than 48 hours.

The AI system works by analysing protein data from a sample of the tumour and testing it against a library of different compounds and is both more accurate and significantly faster than the current testing methods used, at least in tests on individual cancer cells and lung cancer.

Not only can this be used to see which existing treatment would work best, but it can also find potential new treatments, allowing for personalised, highly targeted treatments.

Triple Combination Kills Head And Neck Tumours

Head and neck tumours are often difficult to treat, but a triple treatment involving immunotherapy, radiotherapy and a DNA repair inhibitor can be extremely effective at stopping the growth of head and neck tumours by activating white blood cells known as “natural killers” that eliminate cancer cells themselves.

In tests on laboratory mice, the combination treatment provided greater chances of survival than any single treatment, and some mice were cured entirely.

More people received life-saving and life-prolonging cancer treatments as well as more checks for cancer in 2022 than in any other year, and the reason for this comes down to a range of new approaches a private oncologist has available to them.

According to recent data, over 320,000 people received cancer treatment between November 2021 and October 2022, with over 2.8m people receiving cancer checks, a rate of over 10,000 people a day.

These figures are fascinating and highlight how improved research techniques, technology and approaches to raising awareness to ensure people are checked early have helped people be treated for cancer at much earlier stages.

According to the same dataset, over 100,000 patients were diagnosed at stage one or stage two, before the cancer has spread further and thus when it is at its easiest to treat. This is, again, the highest proportion on record and has helped significantly improve the outcomes for patients.

To highlight the scale of importance of catching cancer early, people who received a stage one lung cancer diagnosis were twenty times more likely to survive than those who received a stage three or stage four diagnosis.

Because early-stage cancer often has no symptoms, often diagnosis involved other checks and tests, as well as watching for subtle symptoms such as persistent coughs that do not seem to go away.

Early-stage cancer can be treated through radiosurgery, surgery with small treatment times and rapid recovery, as well as other forms of therapy that can manage or even remove it before it has the chance to spread.

As well as this, there has been increased research in less common cancers, which has continued to bring the oncology community forward in the goal to reduce the impact cancer has on not only the people diagnosed with it but the loved ones whom it also affects so strongly.

November is when the main retailers bring out their now traditional Christmas adverts, with various themes, interactive elements and sometimes special characters who return with the same regularity as Father Christmas and Rudolf the Red Nose Reindeer.

Plenty of people get red noses at this time of year due to colds, but come the summer the redness may have a different cause – one that has led to the Waitrose advert becoming rather controversial. 

The original advert, which had been designed to highlight the work done by farmers in sourcing the food that ends up on supermarket shelves and subsequently on dinner plates, depicted two farmers on a summer day comparing sun tans because they spent so much time working outdoors all year round.

While this may have been well-intentioned, it drew criticism from skin cancer charity Melanoma UK and many of those who viewed it on social media, who accused the retailer of ignoring the dangers of excessive exposure to the sun in summer.

The BBC reported how one melanoma sufferer commented on the Waitrose Facebook page: “absolutely astonishing that a company like yourselves should be showing farmers glorifying in their sun tans”.

She added: “This is a kick in the teeth for all melanoma patients and for all the organisations trying to educate everyone into the dangers of sun tans.”

Melanoma UK remarked: “Waitrose can do better than this,” a view many a Sheffield cancer doctor will agree with. Its chief executive Gill Nuttall said: “The comparing of tans dates back many years, before we knew better.”

To their credit, Waitrose took on board the criticisms. It issued an apology and the advert has now been modified, with the summer scene showing the two farmers passing each other without comparing their tans.

“While we included some light-hearted and ‘true to life’ moments, we’ve listened to the comments made about the serious message of sun safety,” a spokesperson for the store told the BBC.

Having set out to highlight the work of farmers, Waitrose may instead have helped raise some awareness about the dangers of skin cancer, which 16,700 people are diagnosed with in the UK every year. If spotted soon enough it is eminently treatable, but if it is allowed enough time it can spread to other parts of the body and, according to Melanoma UK, it kills seven people every day.

The one downside of the awareness the Waitrose blunder may have had is that by coming at the time of year when the days are shortest and the sun is lowest, it is happening when even the palest-skinned Briton is at no risk of sunburn. 

Melanoma UK has often raised concerns over actions taken by organisations at times of year when the risk of sunburn is high. Back in August, it criticised Manchester City Football Club for not allowing fans coming to the home game against AFC Bournemouth to bring suncream into the ground with them on a day when temperatures rose to 31 degrees C.

The club had asked fans to apply suncream before coming to the stadium and to then wear hats and drink lots of water.

Anybody experiencing unexplained weight loss should see their GP as soon as possible, as it has been described as a ‘red flag’ for cancer diagnoses.

Though many people might welcome losing some extra pounds, weight loss of five per cent or more in six months, called cachexia, could be a sign of something sinister happening in the body. 

Medical negligence solicitor Kim Jackson told the Express: “A loss of appetite, weight loss that cannot be explained and fatigue are also key signs.”

It occurs as the body does not absorb all the nutrients, including protein, fat, and carbohydrates, that is being consumed. 

Cancer Research UK states that cancer might release chemicals into the blood that result in a breakdown of fat and muscle. 

The charity revealed cachexia affects 60 per cent of people with lung cancer, while coughing up blood, chest paint, persistent coughs, wheezing, breathlessness and infections such as bronchitis and pneumonia are other symptoms to look out for.  

Cachexia is not just an indication of lung cancer, however, as it is also common in patients with pancreatic, head, neck, colorectal, ovarian, and liver cancers. 

It is thought to occur in 80 per cent of patients with advanced cancer, with the condition itself resulting in almost a third of cancer deaths. This is most often the result of heart or respiratory failure due to muscle loss. 

As well as causing fatigue, weakness, and an impact on daily activities, it can lead to mental health difficulties, such as anxiety, stress, and anguish. 

Therefore, not only should cachexia not be ignored as a possible sign for cancer, it could also result in a severe decline of physical and mental health of the patient on its own accord. 

If you’re worried about weight loss and want a Sheffield oncology diagnosis, give us a call today.

A new breast cancer drug used in combination with an existing treatment could reduce the risk of death or progression by as much as 40 per cent, it has been revealed.

The third phase of the CAPitello-291 trial has just completed and analysed, with the new AstraZeneca (AZ) drug capivasertib demonstrating a powerful impact when used in combination with Faslodex.

When trialled on patients with hormone receptor (HR)-positive, HER2-low or negative, locally advanced or metastatic breast cancer, the combination was 40 per cent more effective as an inhibitor than a placebo combined with Faslodex, AZ confirmed.

The maker said there was a 95 per cent confidence interval that the drug was as effective as the trial said, with the treatment being effective in the AKT pathway, which includes half of women who have HR positive breast cancer. This will bring new hope to thousands of women seeking private breast cancer treatment.

Professor of Molecular Oncology at The Institute of Cancer Research Nicholas Turner said: “These data demonstrate the practice-changing potential of capivasertib as a new treatment option for patients with advanced HR-positive breast cancer.“

Describing the treatment as “potentially first-in-class,” he said the most important aspect is that it “delays disease progression for those who have progressed on, or become resistant to, endocrine therapies and CDK4/6 inhibitors.” 

Executive vice president for oncology research and development at AZ, Susan Galbraith, noted that capivasertib is “ the first therapy of its kind shown to be effective in a Phase III trial in patients with advanced HR-positive, HER2-low or negative breast cancer.” 

AZ has also announced that Stage II trials of oral selective estrogen receptor degrader (ngSERD) camizestrant combined with Faslodex had shown a 42 per cent improvement in preventing progression in estrogen-receptor positive or locally advanced or metastatic breast cancer. This rose to 67 per cent for those with ESR1 mutations, accounting for 36.7 per cent of the trial population.

These findings were all unveiled at the 2022 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium in the US.