Q. Why is it so hard to cure cancer?
Doctor Answer is medically reviewed by SecondMedic medical review team.
Cancer is a complex, fast-evolving disease that presents one of the biggest challenges to modern medicine. It is hard to cure cancer because each type of cancer can take on different forms and cause varying degrees of complication. Cancer cells are also very adaptable; they can evolve quickly, acquire new properties and become resistant to treatment.
The main reasons why curing cancer is so difficult include the following:
The complexity of cancers: There are more than 200 types of cancer and a large number of subtypes within each type. Each type has its own set of characteristics such as how it looks under a microscope, how aggressively it grows, and which treatments will work best for that particular type or subtype. This makes it very difficult for doctors to accurately diagnose a person’s specific type or subtype of cancer in order to treat them effectively.
Uncertainty with research: Finding viable treatments for any given form or combination of cancers is an unpredictable process due to the complexity and variation between types and subtypes as well as individual cases where something may work differently from another patient with the same diagnosis . Additionally since funding resources are limited ,many research projects get left unfinished making uncertainty even greater .
Drug resistance : As mentioned before ,cancer cells have evolved over time in order respond better against existing drugs meaning successive generations become increasingly drug resistant .This makes finding successful treatments incredibly challenging especially if an aggressive strain arises .
Human cost : Lastly finding cures for this often deadly disease requires extensive testing using experimental drugs which can have dangerous side effects on humans participating in clinical trials .These people understand that although their results might not lead directly towards finding a cure their data helps inform future researches giving them hope while sacrificing their health today
In conclusion ,it takes knowledge perseverance courage intense commitment massive investments dedicated teams ,and plenty patience when pursuing solutions against this insidious monster we call cancer