Chapters Index (French) French Version Welcome page Contact

Progress in cancer treatment is obtained through a scientific approach.

Many resources are necessary to implement such a scientific approach and they have been progressively set up.

• Precise classification of cancer

• Drafting of standard protocols upon which multidisciplinary discussions are based in order to propose the most appropriate treatment for each and every patient,

• Regular patient follow-up to measure spontaneous survival and its improvement induced by treatment and to screen potential side effects,

• Use of a common medical record gathering all appropriate data,

• Rigorous trial methodology and participation in experimental protocols,

• Multidisciplinary patient care to pool the various technical capacities and harmoniously combine them to obtain the best therapeutic results,

• Providing all the necessary resources for comfort and palliative care,

• Taking into account the psychological and social aspects of cancer to improve results,

All of these minor steps, when added together, explain the overall progress observed over the last twenty years.

The best results are not only those obtained through technical progress. When comparing survival between patients, there is a clear advantage for patients treated according to a protocol, in larger cancer centres, with good coordination between carers and clear knowledge of the possibilities of each speciality. The absence of precise follow-up, even by the general practitioner (for instance for medullar compression), also diminishes the patient’s chances.

Another very important point is to care for the patient in his/her entirety. Sometimes, patients can refuse active treatment or postpone it beyond any reasonable theoretical delay, for reasons which may appear totally futile with regards to their cancer. However, these reasons are genuine and should be taken into consideration: family obligations, work consequences, money problems, psychological reluctance towards what the patient considers too degrading a therapy or too great an alteration of his/her quality of life. After such delays, the period during which the patient was still curable has often elapsed.

It is therefore essential that a whole team takes care of the patient (nursing consultations are particularly important for completing and re-formulating the physician’s explanations, and the involvement of a social worker can often simplify the patient’s daily life). Through various different approaches involving various health professionals, the right solution can often be found for each patient.

There is no point in talking in terms of medical ethics if there is no scientific treatment and if all the necessary measures are not taken to benefit from scientific progress.