Tissue engineering of this type would be useful for non-metastasised cancers which currently are fatal due to inoperability. Exactly what percentage of cancers these are I don't know but if you're curious a search of deaths due to inoperable cancers outside of the brain would be a good start.
Even if we got to the stage wherein any organ could be created on demand (the later is a hurdle in itself, you might be able to make organs but if it takes longer than the patient has left...) there are other considerations. Surgery is quite a traumatic experience, having to undergo multiple organ replacements could just kill the patient themselves. There's also the problem of tumours developing in places that surgery can't properly reach. In addition a tumour can be very dangerous beyond just eating away at an organ (see all the known variations of paraneoplastic syndrome)
Lastly there's types of cancer that an organ replacement wont help with, any type of leukaemia for example or brain cancer.
In summary mature regenerative medicine is likely to greatly increase cancer survival rates but it's not going to be a magic bullet.
EDIT: Forgot to answer your last paragraph. Whole organ regeneration is still some way off. There are already some successes in tissues like skin, corneas and the trachea but we're a while off commercial minature organs, let alone whole ones. By the time we have a spread of organ regeneration technologies sufficient to replace pretty much every part (which is a staggering goal) cancer treatments are likely to be wayyyy better.
Even if we got to the stage wherein any organ could be created on demand (the later is a hurdle in itself, you might be able to make organs but if it takes longer than the patient has left...) there are other considerations. Surgery is quite a traumatic experience, having to undergo multiple organ replacements could just kill the patient themselves. There's also the problem of tumours developing in places that surgery can't properly reach. In addition a tumour can be very dangerous beyond just eating away at an organ (see all the known variations of paraneoplastic syndrome)
Lastly there's types of cancer that an organ replacement wont help with, any type of leukaemia for example or brain cancer.
In summary mature regenerative medicine is likely to greatly increase cancer survival rates but it's not going to be a magic bullet.
EDIT: Forgot to answer your last paragraph. Whole organ regeneration is still some way off. There are already some successes in tissues like skin, corneas and the trachea but we're a while off commercial minature organs, let alone whole ones. By the time we have a spread of organ regeneration technologies sufficient to replace pretty much every part (which is a staggering goal) cancer treatments are likely to be wayyyy better.
OA Wish list:
- DNI
- Internal medical system
- A dormbot, because domestic chores suck!