Treating Incurable Disease

Cancers that cannot be cured should be actively treated under certain circumstances.The goal of treatment is to allow the person with cancer to live longer and enjoy a better life. Treatment of an incurable cancer makes sense medically if the person is otherwise relatively healthy, the cancer has not been treated previously, the medical literature suggests that the disease is likely to respond to therapy, and more problems are likely if no treatment is given. 

For many people who are receiving active therapy for an incurable cancer, simultaneous palliative care should be given. Palliative care is specialized medical care for people with serious illnesses. The goal is to relieve symptoms such as pain and the stress of a serious illness—whatever the diagnosis. One physician, skilled and focused on symptom relief, should be part of the active cancer care group. If the cancer resists the therapy, a different therapy may be given if the criteria mentioned above are still met.  Alternatively, if the therapy isn't helping but is causing significant symptoms, the person with cancer should consider no anti-cancer therapy. Still, other symptoms can be treated to help the patient. Each person and each cancer should be evaluated separately, and every person living with cancer handles that situation differently.