the survival time for mcrc has been historically low, but it may be improved through a combination of drug treatments, chemotherapy, surgery, and radiation, dr. kavan notes. “the drugs are not life-saving on their own. but they can slow the growth and spread of cancer cells in order to buy time using what is available in the hopes that new discoveries will make a difference.”
barry stein, president of colorectal cancer canada in montreal, considers himself to be a “rare bird”, having been among the few that have survived metastatic crc for more than 25 years. a growing number like henry are becoming long-term survivors.”
however, progress in treatment has been slow over those years, “in the past five years, only two therapies for mcrc have been authorized for sale by health canada and even fewer are reimbursed by the provinces,” he says. “things needs to change; more research is sorely needed, along with a more proactive approach to early screening.”
one promising area is immuno-oncology as part of the treatment regime, dr. kavan says. “there is a growing number of clinical trials taking place today. we are seeing encouraging results from potential combinations with other drugs, chemotherapy and/or radiation.”