Cancer treatment in China

Not necessarily. The hospital reviews the sample source, testing scope and quality, and whether the condition has changed after treatment, before deciding on review or additional testing. Submit the full report, not only a mutation name.

Not every patient needs immediate surgery. Some low-risk papillary microcarcinomas may be discussed for active surveillance. A specialist assesses suitability using pathological type, lesion location, lymph nodes and follow-up arrangements.

Active surveillance does not mean stopping reassessments. Radiofrequency and microwave thermal ablation have also been studied, but cannot routinely replace surgery for every thyroid cancer. Understand limitations concerning residual lesions, pathological sampling and long-term follow-up.

Some patients still have a surgical opportunity. Chinese cancer centers can use multidisciplinary discussion to assess conversion treatment and simultaneous or staged liver resection. Conversion treatment uses medicines or other treatment first to try to make initially unresectable lesions resectable.

Whether chemotherapy should include targeted or immune treatment depends on molecular tests and the condition; 'chemotherapy plus targeted and immune treatment' is not a universal regimen. The team also assesses all lesions, liver function, remaining liver volume and prior treatment response. Successful conversion cannot be guaranteed.

Eligible HER2-positive patients in China can receive anti-HER2 treatments such as trastuzumab and pertuzumab. Some may have dual targeted therapy plus chemotherapy before surgery.

HER2 status affects medicines but cannot determine breast conservation alone. The team also assesses lesion distribution, treatment response, achievable margins, radiotherapy arrangements and personal preferences.

Breast conservation usually needs radiotherapy. Intraoperative radiotherapy suitability needs separate assessment and cannot be determined only by whether a tumour is 5 cm or smaller. A pathological complete response (pCR) does not mean long-term cure.

A liver cancer team can still assess further systemic treatment, transarterial chemoembolisation (TACE), ablation, radiotherapy or eligible clinical research. An early single-arm study of M1 oncolytic virus with camrelizumab and apatinib enrolled 13 advanced hepatocellular carcinoma patients.

Among 10 evaluable patients, the objective response rate by mRECIST was 70% (7/10); the study reported median progression-free survival of 8.9 months.

These preliminary small-sample results cannot promise individual efficacy. Apply for the phase II/III VRT106 study according to its registration and center screening criteria. Resistance alone does not establish suitability.

Trial registration is neither routine marketing approval nor confirmation of treatment in Lecheng. A radiotherapy team must separately assess proton or heavy-ion treatment using lesions and liver function.