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New Cancer Strategy: Don't Cure It, Manage It

Radiologist takes 'if you can't beat them, join them' approach

By Katherine Thompson, Newser Staff

Posted May 29, 2009 11:22 AM CDT

(Newser) – The standard care for cancer patients is to kill tumors by blasting them with chemotherapy. Radiologist Roger Gatenby proposes a different approach in Nature: Forget about curing cancer and eliminating the tumors. Just keep them at a manageable size through drugs instead of chemo. "It just makes common sense," he tells Scientific American.

Think about cancer not as an infection in a body but as an "invasive species." Ecologists have learned it's impossible to destroy all the pests, but they can keep them to a "tolerable level," says Gatenby. Aggressive chemo, on the other hand, kills only the weakest cells, leaving the stronger cells with the room and resources to multiply faster.

[Images (2)]

[Quotes (2)]

Some tumor cells almost always survive chemotherapy, and grow into stronger, more resistant strains. (©euthman)

Olga Barrantes, who had a mastectomy to remove breast cancer, receives radiation treatment for skin cancer at a clinic in San Jose, Tuesday, May 26, 2009. (AP Photo/Kent Gilbert)

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The psychology will inevitably be a significant problem for the acceptance of a therapy that explicitly does not aim for a cure. - Robert Gatenby, who believes that treatment should simply aim to manage the size of tumors

We fixed the tumor size and give only enough drug to keep the tumor stable. With progressively smaller doses of therapy, we were able to keep the animal alive indefinitely without symptoms. - Robert Gatenby, on animal trials of his new cancer-fighting approach

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COMMENTS

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Showing 3 of 3 comments

kokuaguy

May 30, 2009 7:17 AM CDT

When an elderly person in a care facility is diagnosed with cancer the management strategy may make far more sense than radical surgery followed by extensive chemo, radiation, etc.

RobN

May 29, 2009 5:41 AM CDT

I don't think most people care how much money the pharm companies make if their loved ones live longer and with a better quality of life. If the therapy works better, it should be fully tested and used. Curing the condition is always going to be the first option; but there are a lot of cases where that isn't going to happen. This may help an awful lot of people if it works.

Fondue

May 29, 2009 5:08 AM CDT

Agreed. Can we revoke Gatenby's license now?

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New Cancer Strategy: Don't Cure It, Manage It