In some cases, patients like Ms. MacKenzie with cancer that has spread inside their bodies — called metastatic disease — are able to stay alive much longer than previously predicted.
Until recently, the prevailing wisdom in oncology was that many early-stage cancer patients could be cured, but metastatic disease was almost always incurable.
This thinking drove cancer research, treatment and care for decades.
Since metastatic disease was usually considered incurable, research focused on early-stage disease.
Right now, two relatively new classes of cancer drugs are displacing traditional chemotherapy for many types of cancer and giving metastatic patients, in particular, more time.
Persons:
MacKenzie, Oncologists, John McCain —