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Comment by malgorithms | Hacker News Reader

You’re probably in the process of learning this now, but in case you’re just getting started: effective multiple myeloma treatments are being approved at an astonishing rate. It was a death sentence 20 years ago. Now it’s indefinitely treatable for many people.

A close family member was diagnosed 5 years ago and went through a stem cell transplant at Dana farber and the cancer still hasn’t returned…although statistically by now I believe it should have. But when it does return there is now a massive menu of next treatments for her that will likely hold it at bay.

Things are changing so fast now that I’m not sure the stem cell treatment is the first step.

Good luck to your dad.

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It's not just multiple myeloma. All sorts of cancers are getting exciting and effective treatments. Some are still really bad news, though.

I wish the availability of those treatments would trickle down regular hospitals in non-US countries as well. I keep reading about all this amazing work being done, and yet my local hospitals in Estonia most likely haven't heard of them, or can't afford to implement it.

What does that mean for someone in Europe with cancer? They have to spend their life savings and sell their house for a trip to a US hospital to get treated?

Assuming they have enough money, yes. Public charity drives for such cases are also pretty common.

is the knowledge not shared, or do other hospitals lack the means/initiative to learn and execute such advancements?

As a doctor, why bother spending your time learning about exotic foreign cancer treatments that aren't available in your country, and your patients couldn't afford if they were?

It would be nice if doctors did anyway, but I can certainly understand why they wouldn't.

I think the European health systems simply refuse to buy the relevant drugs at the prices being charged, and the producers refuse to reduce prices for them.

The US health system is criticized for being expensive, but some of that is from the US effectively bankrolling the development of these new treatments, which the rest of the world gets after some delay.

Exactly this. The hospitals will simply say that the treatments are too expensive and that they lack the funds, and you are on your own. In fact it's so bad that even basic chemotherapy is only covered to a certain point, and if you are not cured in that time, you have to pay additional runs of chemo from your own pocket, even though we have "national healthcare free for everyone who pays taxes".

What's the best way to get up to date info for specific cancers? A relative has one (bladder) but web search does not seem to suggest anything effective for his version apart from bladder removal.

I know two people that were cured (1 year and 4 years so far) by whatever the inactivated TB squirted in your bladder treatment is called.

Edit: Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG)

Thank you! This makes me feel good. He is going for the stem cell viability test in January, at Vancouver General after some chemo so fingers crossed. He heard a story of a friend of a friend who has lived so far 7 years so it gave him hope, initial diagnoses was very scary.

I lost a close relative to MM about a year ago, but he lived an almost normal life with it for about 16 years. It seems like the recent advancements in car-t therapies are even more promising than some of the stem cell treatments, so there are lots of options out there and more are coming online rapidly. Sending good vibes to you and your dad.

> It was a death sentence 20 years ago. Now it’s indefinitely treatable for many people.

Wow. That's great to hear. 25 years ago I was in the midst of losing a close family member to multiple myeloma. I'm glad that the prognosis has improved so much since then.

Yeah a family member received bone marrow transplant for MM 8 years ago still here. Lenalidomide works great

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