Is there anything new in the world of cancer treatment, other than radiation, chemo or surgery?

UNLEASH Immune: New promising research is directed at allowing the immune system to fight cancer. For example, the scca (fred hutch clinc in seattle) has a wide variety of clinical studies for melanoma patients, including vaccines, immune cell treatments, and other substances that stimulate the immune system.

Yes: Immunotherapy, and antibody treatment are the "hot" thing. Examples include: Provenge (sipuleucel-t) for prostate cancer, and yervoy from melanoma.

Targeted therapy: Cancers have gene mistakes that can be attacked. There have been major new treatments for melanoma, lung, thyroid and other cancers. The oldest such targeted treatment is hormone blockers in breast and prostate. The most successful is in cml.

Targeted Rx: Laparoscopy has revolutionized surgery. The new targeted chemotherapeutic agents that came about as a result of the human genome project are so different from classic highly-toxic chemotherapy as to warrant being considered a separate category. The death rate from cancer today is maybe half of what it was when i was a kid -- the best news of all.

Targeted/Biologic: Other modalities of treatment: hormonal targeted biologic (antibodies, antiangiogenesis, anti-growth factors) many work best in combination with chemotherapy.