For more than 50 years, oncologists have led the fight against cancer.

Chemotherapy was first used on leukemia patients in the 1950's. It works by latching on to the DNA in cancer cells, but it also attacks other rapidly growing cells in the body.

Oncologist Lowell Hart says, "Chemotherapy kind of emerged out of the doctors who were working in the chemical war-fare division of the armed services during WWII."

Radiation Oncologist Constantine Mantz says that these days there are supportive drugs available to help fight cancer. The side effects of chemotherapy do not hit a patient as strongly as they did years ago. "I think many of the greatest leaps in technology, in improving drugs and making treatments more effective, better tolerated. We've become smarter and better in how to use drugs in chemotherapy."

Dr. Mantz also says that no matter what kind of treatment you receive or what type of specialist you happen to see, every specialist basically has the same mission in mind. "To treat cancer, effectively, safely, to allow them to live their lives as fully and as usefully and as happily as they could."

Dr. Hart also says that advancements in chemotherapy have come such a long way that age doesn't matter. "I've treated people up into their mid-eighties with some type of chemotherapy regimen."

In the treatment of most cancers, a variety of methods may be needed to give the patient the best chance for success.

Researchers are still working on targeted therapies for different types of cancers so that in the future there may be drugs that attack only cancer cells and nothing else.