Published December 3, 2012.
This year’s Report, “Clinical Cancer Advances 2012: Annual Report on Progress Against Cancer From the American Society of Clinical Oncology,” features 87 studies, 17 of which the Report’s editors have designated as major advances.
Although cancer-related deaths have declined tremendously since the early 1990s, cancer remains a leading cause of death worldwide. An estimated 577,000 Americans will lose their lives to cancer in 2012. The large number of advances featured in the Report affirms that clinical cancer research yields remarkable improvements in survival and quality of life for patients with cancer. Many studies highlighted this year capitalized on the growing knowledge about the complexity of cancer to develop sophisticated treatment approaches, such as combining targeted drugs for difficult-to-treat cancers and expanding the use of targeted drugs to multiple forms of cancer that share the same genetic alteration. Major advances over the past year were achieved in the areas of overcoming treatment resistance, personalized medicine, and screening.
