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Part I - Cancer Industry Overview:
  a. Historical perspective on cancer industry (Eastern vs. Western Medicine).  
   b. Different approaches to treating cancer globally with emphasis on U.S. vs. European, particularly German Oncology, practices and paradigms.
   c. Variation in treatment practices within the U.S.  
   d. Current trends in the cancer industry in diagnosis (chemo drug testing and molecular mutation testing) and treatment (biological therapies, targeted therapies, vaccine therapies, etc.)  
   e. Integrative vs. Standard Conventional cancer treatment approach.  
   f. Importance of holistic approach to cancer treatment success (mind / body / nutritional). 

Part II - Initial Diagnosis of Cancer:
Part III - Cancer Therapy Options:
Part IV - Nutrition for Cancer:
Part V - More Cancer Resources:
Part VI - Cancer Medical Terms:
Part VII - Survivor Characteristics:
Part VIII - Self-help Approaches:
Part IX - Testimonials of Survivors:
Part X - Forum for Patients:
Part XI - What would I do:
Part XII - Recent Developments:
Part XIII - Other Cancer Info:

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Part I - Overview of the Cancer Industry
          d. Current Trends in the Cancer Industry:

One of the most important trends that is occurring (albeit too slowly) in the U.S. cancer industry is the customization of therapies. Currently the standard cancer treatment approach is for the use of therapies that have been shown in clinical trials to be effective for “most” patients with that type and stage of cancer. However what works for “most” may not work for “your “cancer, and thus many people go from one therapy option to another with each taking a toll on the immune system, the most important cancer fighter that your body has.

Thus an important service available in the U.S. cancer industry is the chemosensitivity or predictive testing option that involves taking some of “your” cancer tissue when you first have surgery to remove a tumor mass and having it tested with up to 35 combination of chemo drugs to see what kills “your” cancer cells, rather than relying on the clinical trial data which works for “most” patients.  It’s important to note, that you will have to have your surgeon check with the testing lab to see how this tissue needs to be preserved or cryobanked before shipment to one of the labs that do this testing.

This approach is commonly used in California but not elsewhere in the U.S. to the knowledge of this website owner (although it was recently used by an oncologist at a medical center in the Mayo Clinic Health System at the request of a patient who was made aware of this procedure).  The reluctance of many oncologists is possibly that they remember this approach was available some years ago and didn’t work…but it has since been perfected.  Others may think that what works in the test tube (invitro) does not necessarily work in the body (invo), but this too is now false as the testing labs can largely replicate the invo environment in the test tube.   Chemo drug “predictive” testing is preferable to chemo drug “resistance” testing, as the former tests for drugs with 95% accuracy that WILL kill your cancer and the latter tests with 100% accuracy for drugs that WILL NOT kill your cancer.  The following lists some of the labs that perform these tests, with Dr. Robert Nagoruney’s Rational Therapeutics Lab being the premier lab in that regard in the opinion of this website author.  Information on these labs is available at the links below:  (The cost may approach $3000 and not be covered by your insurance provider, but if you can afford it, it may well be the key to your recovery).
Rational Therapeutics 

Another major trend in the cancer industry is “targeted” therapies which use identification of specific gene mutations or disorders that can then be targeted with specific drugs that are not only highly effective but do not harm healthy cells.  The first of these was Gleevic which has been extremely successful at treating stromal cancer.  At the recent annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), MD Anderson presented studies which they have conducted indicating that future cancers may not be categorized by location in the body (i.e. lung cancer, brain cancer, liver cancer, etc.) but rather by the type of gene mutation.  This work is also taking advantage of the recent completion of the entire human genome mapping.  The link below discusses this further:
Libby’s H*O*P*E 

Another trend in the cancer industry is the use of biological therapies, including vaccines where patient’s cancer cells are removed and trained to attack the cancer and then reintroduced into the body to potentiate the immune system’s fighting ability against the cancer.  This type of therapy is discussed at the link below:
National Cancer Institute 

Another immunotherapy vaccine is dentritic cell therapy which is discussed at the link below:
Stanford Medicine