by Robin Marks, University of California, San Francisco – Medical Xpress –
If you’re a woman newly diagnosed with breast cancer, treatment can feel … well, scary. Will chemotherapy work? Or will it become a cycle of educated guesswork: trying one drug combination, waiting, scanning? If the tumor doesn’t respond, trying something else. In the meantime, the cancer doesn’t wait.
But in the not-too-distant future, patients may begin with a head start. In this future, doctors grow a tiny version of a patient’s tumor in a lab—a living replica carrying the same mutations and quirks as the original cancer. Before treatment begins, doctors test drugs on the replica, watching how it responds. Decisions begin with evidence tailored to the individual patient.
