Increases chance of survival by 60% to whom suffers from lung cancer This is the pioneering project which is currently being developed Jerez de la Frontera Hospital, in Cádiz. A city which, moreover, has just hosted one of the largest national events in the fight against this disease.
During this congress, one of the most important advances in oncology is taught of recent years. This consists of “be able to molecularly select tumors, know them from the inside, detect targets and develop drugs that kill the tumor of this target”, reports Jesús Corral, head of the oncology department at the Jerez de la Frontera hospital.
This formula allows a Greater effectiveness with fewer side effects for the patient with lung cancer, compared to chemotherapy, and increases the patient’s survival sixfold.
This pioneering project was one of the key themes of this event, which brought together researchers specializing in the fight against the disease and its variants, but not the only one: also, the radiopharmaceuticals
Radiopharmaceuticals, as Alejandro Bartolet, a researcher at Harvard University General Hospital, explains, “involve injecting a drug that circulates in the body, finds where the tumor cells are and binds to that tumor.” This medicine contains a radioactive element whichIt is emitted from inside the tumor and causes its destruction“.
The place chosen to bring them together is no coincidence, because “there are ten scientists, nine of whom are Andalusians -eight from Jerez-. they do cancer research in the best laboratories in Spain and the United States”, says Pepe Soto, organizer of the event.
They also emphasize the importance of being well informed, because “daily decisions and lifestyle habits will determine whether we have a greater or lesser probability of developing a disease”, explains Macarena Fernández, professor and researcher at the University Loyola, in Andalusia.
And, according to the Spanish Association Against Cancer, a third of women and half of men will have some type of cancer. A fact which should mobilize Spaniards “to ask the public authorities for greater involvement in the investigation”, affirms the moderator of the event, Paco Lobatón.
