Fighting cancer in the information age: The role of Internet

Cance r is a major hea lth prob lem wo rld wid e whi ch is lik ely to ass llm e alarming proporti ons in th e next two decades. Communica ti on and informati on have increas in gly bee n consid ered important in helpin g peo pl e to cope with ca nce r. The arri val of Int ern et offers th e opportu nit y to fundamentall y re in vc nt medicin e and health care de li very. Med ical profess ionals ca n no w use the Int ern et for continuing medi ca l edu cati on, ac cess lat es t medi cal inform ation , fo r fa st co nfirmati on of di agnos is, exchange opinion on treatment strateg ies and in palliativ e care. Int ern et can provid e cost-effec tiv e and tim ely ways to de li ve r a compl ex mi x of int e res tin g and hi gh-qu alit y information and expertise to ca ncer patients. Pati ent s ca n also independen tly se arch th e Int ern et to know abo ut their illn ess and treatment opti ons. However, of conce rn is th e qualit y of informati on that is availabl e in th e 'Net'. Some Int ern et sites may co nt ain erron eolls in formation on ca ncer and can pose se ri ous prob lems. There are also man y good sit es, whi ch provide qu alit y informat ion on canc er for medi cal profess ionals, resea rchers and pati ent s. Thi s art icle foc uses on how the Int ern et will aid us in fi ght aga in st ca nce r. Cancer is a di sease that knows no geographic bounda­ rie s. In vi rtu all y every country of the world, it is a major hea lth probl em. Despi te decades of basic and clinical research and trial s of promi sin g new th era­ pies, ca ncer remain s a majo r cause of morbidit y and mortalit y. The war again st cancer is far from over. The post genomic era ha s now opened new avenu es in cancer treatment, which is co nt empl ated to be more effec tiv e and specific for tumour ce ll s. The sequenc­ in g of th e human genome is lik ely to speedup th e id entific at ion of fac tors inv olv ed in cancer pathogene­ sis and lead to an age of indi vidually tai lored anti ­ cancer drug th erap y. However, about half of the global cancer burden is carri ed by developin g coun­ tri es th at ironically have access to onl y 5% of th e re­ so urces ava il ab le to fi ght th e di sease l .