In some cancer types, we are doing a good job. Most cancers when caught early can be successfully treated. But doctors still struggle to treat advanced cancers and some cancer types, such as pancreatic cancer, still have incredibly dismal survival rates. Other cancers, such as head and neck cancers, are often resistant to current therapies, making less-invasive treatments more difficult. In addition, current chemotherapies cause severe side effects because they target all rapidly dividing cells. Treatments that target only cancer stem cells would cause fewer side effects for patients.
We are doing a very poor job of curing cancer. There were 7.6 million deaths (13% of all deaths) in 2008, and that rate is thought to have increased to 13.1 million deaths in 2030 according to Globocan 2008, International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), 2010. Still, since we are elucidating the molecular mechanisms underpinning the "hallmarks of cancer" and finding that there are typically multiple defects causing each cancer, and that each cancer is to some extent unique, we are starting to have the tools to at least accurately diagnose cancers at the molecular level. Then we need to bring that to the clinic.... And then devise novel treatment modalities targeting the observed individual defects...
In the west or developed nations, of course, early and molecular diagnosis has been made possible. But in developing and poor countries, the cancer deaths are ever- increasing as the advanced diagnostics are available only to the elite few, but unaffordable for the rest. However, improvement in basic healthcare structure has led to significant rise in life expectancy over last few decades, thereby added risk of old age overt cancers. The rising environmental pollution in developing nations has been adding fire to the fury.
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