Personalized cancer medicine studies a person’s genetic makeup and tumor growth. With this information, doctors hope to find more effective strategies for prevention, screening, and treatment.
Genetic testing of cancer cells and normal cells helps doctors customize treatment to individual patient needs. Personalized treatments may cause fewer side effects than standard options.
Creating a personalized cancer screening and treatment plan involves:
- Identifying the chances of a person developing cancer and selecting screening strategies to lower the risk
- Matching people with treatments that may be more effective and cause fewer side effects
- Predicting the risk of recurrence, which is the return of cancer
How personalized medicine is different?
Before personalized medicine, most people with a specific type and stage of cancer received the same treatment. But certain treatments worked better for some people than for others. Researchers then began finding genetic differences in people and their tumors more often. This explains many of the varying responses to treatment. Now, a person may receive a standard treatment plan, modified with some personalized elements. Personalized cancer treatment is an active part of the treatment plan or a part of a clinical trial. A clinical trial is a research study involving people.