How functional precision oncology is revolutionizing cancer treatment

Physician and clinical researcher Chris Apfel discusses his article, "Functional precision oncology: a game changer in cancer therapy." Chris explains that functional precision oncology takes a highly personalized approach by testing a patient's live tumor cells outside the body (ex-vivo) against a panel of cancer drugs to directly observe which treatments are most effective against that specific cancer. This method, he argues, can significantly improve cancer response rates and survival while reducing costs and unnecessary side effects, by moving beyond the limitations of standard pathology (which identifies cancer type but not optimal treatment) and genomic sequencing (which identifies mutations but provides actionable targets for only a minority of patients). Chris recounts the history of functional testing, its initial promise, its decline with the rise of next-generation sequencing, and its current resurgence, supported by studies demonstrating its high predictive accuracy for clinical outcomes. Despite its potential to complement genomics and truly personalize care, he notes that functional precision oncology faces slow adoption due to its general absence from standard NCCN treatment guidelines, hospital restrictions on external tissue testing, and a systemic preference in health care for standardization over innovative, individualized approaches. Chris strongly encourages patients, particularly those facing difficult or unresponsive cancers, to educate themselves about functional precision oncology and actively advocate for access to these tests.

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