THERE HAVE been dramatic changes in Ireland’s approach to cancer treatment but there is still a long way to go, a conference on cancer care heard in Dublin yesterday. National director of the Cancer Control Programme Dr Susan O’Reilly told the audience of doctors and researchers at the International Cancer Conference in Trinity College that the system is facing “huge challenges”.
“We have seen an encouraging improvement in survival rates. There is no reason why we can’t achieve more. We have made significant progress [but] we should not be complacent. We are about one-third of the way to excellence.”
Professor of surgery at Trinity College and organiser of the event John Reynolds said the central theme of the presentations is “state-of-the-art cancer care”.
Saying the audience represented every area of cancer care from clinical to support services, Prof Reynolds said “targeted therapy” is a key issue.
“In the past drugs were developed and tried on unselected groups. Now with advances in understanding of DNA we can look at genes for the patient’s cancer ... modern drugs are tailor-made for the individual.”
Prof Reynolds said closer links between research and treatment practitioners would improve success rates for patients.
Observing all of the speakers represent excellence in their field, Prof Reynolds said a talk today by Dr Paul Lorrigan from the University of Manchester would highlight “some advances at last” in the treatment of skin cancer.
Prof Reynolds noted that a talk on “progress made in treating childhood cancer and leukaemia, an important area” will be given by Prof Martin Schrappe from the University Medical Centre in Kiel, Germany.
A select number of research projects will be assessed for their contribution to cancer treatment later today.
Opening the conference yesterday President Mary McAleese praised the researchers for “removing the terror from the world of cancer”.
“We live in an era of refined and focused specialisms. It is important to have that forensic focus. Your ambition is to make the work you do state of the art,” the President said.
The conference closes today. Details are available at cancerconference.ie