Tumour sequencing/targeted therapy
Every tumour has its own special individual characteristics. For many years, cancers were categorised according to the organ in the human body where they originated, and were known as lung, breast, abdominal or skin cancer etc.
We now recognise that cancer develops as a result of individual genetic modifications. A modern designation for this is “precision medicine”. Where the treating doctor is able to acquire increasing knowledge about genetic changes in the tumour, he/she can apply targeted therapy to treat the cancer. This increases the chances of being cured, and at the same time reduces the general side-effects.