I have seen a lot of my patients who have done chemotherapy, radiotherapy or both. But almost all of them somehow will ultimately fail or failed to finish the course because of poor tolerance to the side effects or tumor doesn't respond or even becomes bigger.
Recently, more and more research have come out about the importance of doing genetic profiling of the tumor to get an overall picture of the prognosis as well as which chemotherapeutic agents willl be effective.
I wish that we here in the Philippines, will adopt that and spare patients from trial and error. Though I know that this will be unlikely in the near future since, all medical expenses will be paid by the patients.
Sad to say, our medical insurance in the Philippines, deliberately or not, excluded cancer for coverage and left people to spend a preposterous amount on chemotherapy. And adding insult would be that chemotherapy drug or drugs will eventually go to waste since the patients will not finish a course. Leaving the patient in pain, frustration and disgust to their fate.
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