FDA approves first cancer treatment based on genetic makeup, not tumor location

[D.ap]

“Cancer has traditionally been identified by where in the body it develops. Breast cancer forms in the breast, lung cancer in the lungs, and so on. Even when a cancer metastasizes to a different part of the body, it is defined by its original location. If colorectal cancer travels to the brain, for instance, it is called metastatic colorectal cancer, not brain cancer. But many doctors, including Shayma Master Kazmi, MD, RPh, Medical Oncologist at our hospital in Philadelphia, call that old-school thinking. "We used to just think about cancers in terms of where they originated," Dr. Kazmi says. "Now we’re expanding our views on cancer to not be limited by where it starts, but to look at its blueprint, the way the cancer metastasizes, the way it grows, what makes the cancers tick."



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