Personalized medicine and what it means

Personalized cancer medicine has become a major buzzword as of late, but what does it really mean? Everyone defines it differently, so the bird's eye view of this term would be as encompassing as possible. On one level, it means that every patient is an individual and that their course through the diagnosis and treatment of cancer should reflect their values and preferences within the boundaries of medical evidence that is works. The way information is communicated, the way different choices are presented, and even how treatment choices are balanced against side effects (sometimes permanent), all need to be customized. A mother of two young children and a professional violinist might make very different treatment decisions about using a chemotherapy agent that causes neuropathy even if the benefit (improvement in cure rate) is identical. Similarly, the medical care team needs to formulate tailored strategies to keep patients satisfied with treatment, compliant with medications and educated about when to call with side effects. Using a one-size-fits-all approach will probably lead to much lower performance in all these departments.A very different definition of personalized medicine is the high tech world of genomics and proteomics that exposes unique vulnerabilities in an individual's cancer. Just in the last year, massive amounts of genomic information from the tumors of many patients has been made available through publications and databases-–analyzing this fire hose of data is starting to reveal that cancers do in fact harbor many genetic "drivers," and the next step will be to squelch these with targeted drugs. Also, deciphering inherited variations the drug metabolizing enzymes will help us predict who is more susceptible to drug side effects--further customizing treatments. The best model of personalized medicine is one that integrates all these definitions to create an environment that revolves around the patient. This includes a rationally composed and individualized treatment plan using the best science along with supportive approaches that add up to a holistic plan that is reflective of the individual. Let's hope that health care reform will encourage and incentivize personalized medicine for cancer.