A new day in the fight against cancer

Thanks to advances in prevention, detection, treatment, and follow-up care, receiving a cancer diagnosis need no longer feel like receiving a death sentence. Advances in cancer care offer new hope for patients, allowing them to live longer and feel better.

Kaiser Permanente’s integrated system makes it easier to support members and care for the whole person during a cancer diagnosis. A multidisciplinary approach to treatment is followed by education and resources to prevent recurrences and improve the patient’s quality of life after cancer.

“We are identifying the causes for cancer,” says Leon Hwang, MD, a medical oncologist at Kaiser Permanente in the Mid-Atlantic States. “We are developing therapies that are specific to each patient’s cancer and new therapies using the immune system that have far fewer side effects than traditional chemotherapy. This is a time for new hope.”

That progress is reflected in a dramatic increase in the number of cancer survivors. In 1971, there were 3 million cancer survivors in the United States. That number grew to 16.9 million by January 2019, according to the National Cancer Institute, representing 5% of the U.S. population.

Read the full article and view the video “A new day in the fight against cancer”

Learn more about Kaiser Permanente’s 360-degree approach to cancer care.