By Dr Ajit Saxena

In India close to 2.5 million people live with cancer. Around 12 lakh new cancer patients are added every year. 

According to the National Cancer Registry Programme of the India Council of Medical Research (ICMR), more than 1300 Indians die every day due to cancer and about eight lakh a year.

Earlier the standard treatments were surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy.

The latest is immunotherapy. It is a cutting edge technology for the treatment of cancer.

It uses certain parts of a person’s immune system to fight certain diseases. It functions like immune check point inhibitors protecting the body like a shield against diseases and fights specifically against cancer cells.

These killer cells used to fight cancer is taken from your own body, cultured outside increasing its numbers and reintroduced back into the body to fight against cancer.

You can learn how immunotherapy is used to treat cancer here

https://www.cancer.org/treatment/treatments-and-side-effects/treatment-types/immunotherapy/what-is-immunotherapy.html

Also learn if there are any side effects of immunotherapy here

https://www.cancer.net/navigating-cancer-care/how-cancer-treated/immunotherapy-and-vaccines/side-effects-immunotherapy#:~:text=Immunotherapy%2C%20also%20called%20biologic%20therapy,or%20restore%20immune%20system%20function.

Dr Saxena is uro-andrologist at Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals, New Delhi. He specialises in treating prostate disease and impotence using a bloodless technique called vapour resection. He is also the founder president of Andrology India