Pharmacogenetics in treating malignant diseases 

Malignant diseases impose a great many obstacles, both objective and subjective, to patients and families. One of the most prominent objectives is in contending with the prescribed drug treatments – treatments that are most often very aggressive, with the objective of improving patient survival as well as quality of life.

However, the ratio between the expected benefit of a certain treatment and the damage it might cause can sometimes be improved through the use of pharmacogenetic information. This information may provide the ability to predict which of the patients may benefit from a certain treatment and which will not, in advance, without having to endure unnecessary risks.

The implementation of pharmacogenetic information in the treatment of malignant diseases must be coordinated with the treating physician in order to maximize the benefit of proposed treatments.