Cancer Care in 2025: A Giant Leap Forward
Cancer treatment has advanced by leaps and bounds over the past decade, with early detection, improved diagnostics, targeted therapies, and better management of side effects offering patients a new lease of life. Yet, social stigma surrounding cancer remains a stubborn challenge.
Once considered a death knell, cancer is no longer the grim reaper it once was. Over the past decade, the treatment of cancer has changed by leaps and bounds, and while it’s still no walk in the park, patients now have a fair crack of the whip at leading long and meaningful lives.
Advanced technology, greater attention to well-being during treatment, and improved quality of life post-treatment have transformed a disease whose outcome was once a foregone conclusion into a more familiar, if still formidable, foe.
As published in The Telegraph who spoke to a few cancer specialists who treat the disease at various stages, to get the lay of the land on what’s changed – and what, stubbornly, has not. I am sharing an adoption of the article.
A Delicate Question
A cancer patient may well be back on their feet and raring to go, yet friends and family often can’t help but ask, “Kemon achho ekhon?” (How are you now?), a well-meaning but often uncomfortable question for someone keen to move on. As they say, old habits die hard.
What’s Changed
Awareness and Early Detection
Fifteen years ago, most cancer patients would rock up to the doctor’s surgery when things had already gone pear-shaped.
“Earlier, the majority of patients would turn up at stage four,” said Dr Tanmoy Mandal, consultant medical oncologist. “Now, thanks to awareness, most present at stages two or three. In many cases, early detection means the cancer is perfectly curable.”
People are now more inclined to get things checked when there’s a slight hiccup – a small lump in the breast or minor bleeding – rather than waiting until the cow’s already bolted.
Surgical oncologist Dr Gautam Mukhopadhyay agreed: “Awareness has shot up in recent years. Between government initiatives, private hospitals, doctors, and social organisations, the message is finally getting through. Mind you, there’s still a long way to go.”
Where once over half of Mukhopadhyay’s patients came in with cancer that had already run riot, nowadays, 65–70% walk through the door at an early stage. If the cancer’s confined to one area, a bit of clever surgery often does the trick.
Diagnosis and Treatment: A Brave New World
Thanks to swanky new diagnostic tools and state-of-the-art treatment protocols, outcomes have improved hand over fist.
“A tumour found in the lungs isn’t always from the lungs – it could have started elsewhere, like the pancreas,” explained Dr Mandal. “In the past, pinning down the source was like finding a needle in a haystack. Now, with advanced diagnostics, we’re streets ahead.”
Treatments, too, have gone through a sea change. Targeted chemotherapy and genomics testing mean drugs can be tailored to the patient, boasting fewer nasty side effects. Immunotherapy, meanwhile, works to stop cancer from making an unwelcome return.
Radiation therapy has undergone a complete makeover.
“There’s barely any similarity between radiation therapy now and what we dished out 10–15 years ago,” said Dr Sayan Paul, cancer specialist. “Today’s treatments mean patients can get back on the horse and lead productive lives.”
Robotic and minimally invasive surgery are also now par for the course, improving outcomes and reducing recovery times, said Dr Mukhopadhyay.
An increase in the number of oncology super-specialists has been the icing on the cake, ensuring more precise diagnosis and treatment.
Managing the Side Effects
It’s no secret that cancer treatments can knock the stuffing out of patients – from hair loss and nausea to nerve damage and allergic reactions.
“In the past, side effects were brushed under the carpet – seen as part and parcel of treatment,” said Mandal. “Now, we make it our business to manage them.”
Today, patients are offered drugs and therapies to keep side effects at bay, greatly improving their quality of life during treatment. Doctors are also more clued up on the psychological toll cancer can take.
“Depression is common, so psychologists and psychiatrists are crucial members of the care team,” said Mandal.
Life After Cancer
With better outcomes, many patients find a renewed sense of purpose.
Take Tanima Saha, 46, who, after surviving breast cancer in 2022, returned to her post teaching molecular biology and biotechnology at Kalyani University in early 2023. She’s even shifted her research focus to cancer biology to give something back.
Meanwhile, Pradipta Ghosh, 60, who battled larynx cancer in 2011, leads a life as normal as you like.
“Every day, I ride my motorcycle, meet friends, and live life to the full,” said Ghosh, a resident of Bansdroni. “I’m not scared of anything now.”
What’s Yet to Change
The Persistent Social Taboo
While the stigma surrounding cancer has eased, it hasn’t entirely gone the way of the dodo.
“Many people assume all my hair must have fallen out because I had cancer,” said Ghosh, visibly miffed. “They even ask if I’m wearing a wig. It’s hurtful, to say the least.”
Dr Paul noted that cancer patients don’t seek sympathy – they just want to get on with their lives without being constantly reminded of their illness.
A college student, now in remission, shared: “Every time someone asks how I’m doing, it brings the whole nightmare flooding back. It’s humiliating.”
In short, while science and medicine have come on in leaps and bounds, social attitudes still need a good kick up the backside. Cancer may no longer be the end of the road, but society still has some catching up to do
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