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Cancer treatment myths: Any truth to these common beliefs?
Myth: Drug companies and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are blocking or withholding new cancer treatments
Myth: Everyone with the same kind of cancer gets the same kind of treatment
Myth: If we can put a man on the moon, we should have cured cancer by now
Myth: Drug companies and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are blocking or withholding new cancer treatments
Myth: Regular checkups and today's medical technology can detect all cancer early
Content
Myth: A positive attitude is all you need to beat cancer
Myth: If we can put someone on the moon, we should have cured cancer by now
Myth: New cancer treatments are being kept from the public
Myth: Regular checkups and today's medical technology can find all cancer early
Myth: Undergoing cancer treatment means you can't live at home, work or go about your usual activities
Myth: Cancer is always painful
Myth: A needle biopsy can disturb cancer cells, causing them to travel to other parts of the body
Myth: Surgery causes cancer to spread
Myth: Everyone who has the same kind of cancer gets the same kind of treatment
Myth: Everyone who has cancer has to have treatment
Myth: Everyone with the same kind of cancer gets the same kind of treatment
Myth: If we can put a man on the moon, we should have cured cancer by now
Myth: Drug companies and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are blocking or withholding new cancer treatments
Myth: Regular checkups and today's medical technology can detect all cancer early
Content
Myth: A positive attitude is all you need to beat cancer
Myth: If we can put someone on the moon, we should have cured cancer by now
Myth: New cancer treatments are being kept from the public
Myth: Regular checkups and today's medical technology can find all cancer early
Myth: Undergoing cancer treatment means you can't live at home, work or go about your usual activities
Myth: Cancer is always painful
Myth: A needle biopsy can disturb cancer cells, causing them to travel to other parts of the body
Myth: Surgery causes cancer to spread
Myth: Everyone who has the same kind of cancer gets the same kind of treatment
Myth: Everyone who has cancer has to have treatment
Myth: If we can put someone on the moon, we should have cured cancer by now
Truth: Finding the cure for cancer is very complicated. In some ways, it's harder than figuring out the engineering and physics needed to go to space.
Cancer includes a large group of diseases. Each person's cancer could have many possible causes. Even with more information about cancer diagnosis and treatment, healthcare professionals still have a lot to learn about why cells become cancer cells and why some people who have cancer do better than others.
Also, cancer cells can change even after someone is diagnosed with cancer. This may lead to chemotherapy medicines or radiation treatments no longer working on cancer cells after a while, even if the medicines did seem to work at first.
