What is targeted therapy also known as?

Targeted therapy is often referred to as precision medicine because both terms emphasize the tailored approach to treating diseases, particularly cancer. Precision medicine involves understanding the genetic, environmental, and lifestyle factors that contribute to a patient's health and disease profile. Targeted therapy specifically focuses on identifying and attacking cancer cells with specific molecular targets associated with cancer, based on the individual characteristics of both the patient and the tumor.

This concept of precision medicine encompasses a broad spectrum of strategies, including targeted therapies that employ drugs or other substances to precisely identify and attack cancer cells, minimizing damage to normal cells. By using information about a person's genetic makeup or the genetic changes in their cancer, clinicians can choose treatments that are more likely to be effective, thereby enhancing the efficacy of treatment and usually reducing side effects when compared to traditional therapies that may be less selective.

The other choices like hormonal treatment, adjuvant therapy, and palliative care refer to different aspects of cancer treatment and management, focusing on hormone-dependent cancers, supportive treatment following primary therapy, and symptom management in advanced disease, respectively. These do not capture the core principle of customizing treatment based on individual genetic factors which is central to targeted therapy and precision medicine.