A few weeks ago, I wrote about how insufficient the typical yearly doctor physical seems for adequately diagnosing diseases, and how modern technology could be used so much more effectively. Interestingly enough, the latest Wired magazine cover story addresses this very issue with a specific focus on the battle against cancer. It’s a fascinating read.
The article focuses on The Canary Foundation, a Silicon Valley organization that is solely focused on improving the early diagnosis of cancer (you know, the whole canary in the coal mine metaphor). The story points out why my original post was overly simplistic, as even the most advanced CT scanning and MRI technologies cannot always find the smallest of tumors and can’t at all determine the molecular structure of tumors, which can say a lot about the danger posed by the cancer (apparently, a number of tumors in certain cancers aren’t a threat).
But the main point remains: A third of all Americans will be diagnosed with cancer. More than 500,000 will die every year. And yet, if cancer is caught early, during the disease’s first two stages, the 10-year survival rate is 90 percent. Better diagnostic tools would likely save lives and money, and early diagnosis should be a much easier problem for modern medical science to solve than finding those elusive cures.
Of course, it’s not surprising that the pharma industry spends nothing on the issue, since there’s not a lot of direct money to be made in early detection. But why is only 8 percent of the National Cancer Institute’s budget, and a minuscule portion of private foundation money, allocated to early detection?
In my mind, it’s a travesty, and I most certainly now know where my next significant charity donation will be going.
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