CANCER TREATMENT

There is no single treatment for cancer - doctors have a range of options available and must decide which is best for the patient. They will often combine several types of treatment for greater effect, taking into account all sorts of factors. For example, the patient's age, history and lifestyle are very important in deciding on the best treatment. Doctors will involve the patient in the decision as much as possible.

There are currently many different ways to treat cancer.

Conventional Treatments

Surgery

For many centuries, surgery was the only treatment for cancer. The famous 18th century surgeon, John Hunter, suggested that surgery might cure cancer if the tumor had not invaded the surrounding tissue. He remarked that "if the tumor is moveable... there is no impropriety in removing it".
This procedure remained the mainstay of breast cancer treatment until very recently. Nowadays, the use of chemo- and radiotherapy, and the ability to diagnose breast cancer earlier thanks to screening programmes, means that radical mastectomy can often be avoided.
Recently, cancer surgery has benefited from the use of high-tech imaging techniques such as ultrasound, MRI and CT scanning These procedures allow a surgeon to find out the exact size and shape of a patient's tumor. And the widespread use of keyhole surgery allows surgeons to operate on a patient's tumor without leaving large disfiguring scars.

Radiotherapy

Radiation therapy is one of the three traditional primary forms of medical treatment used by the experts at Cancer Treatment Centers of America to treat your cancer, and for relief of symptoms. It may be used alone or in combination with surgery or chemotherapy, almost anywhere within your body. Innovative new techniques have evolved and are still evolving, enabling delivery of higher radiation doses to cancer cells and limited doses to your normal tissue.

Chemotherapy

The underlying principle of chemotherapy is to kill the cancer by treating them with chemicals that interfere with the process of cell division. They do this either by damaging the proteins involved, or by damaging the DNA itself. This causes the damaged cells to commit suicide.
Chemotherapy can have many unpleasant side effects, such as nausea, vomiting, hair loss and mouth sores. New, and usually effective, approaches to prevent or moderate these side effects will be utilized to help you through your chemotherapy treatment. The fractionated dose approach may diminish the side effects, particularly nausea and vomiting.
Different classes of chemotherapy drugs work by interfering with different stages of cell division. To take advantage of this, doctors often prescribe them in combination ('combination therapy'), so that they are more effective.

Hormone therapy

Hormones are chemicals produced by glands in your body, and are circulated in the bloodstream. Estrogen and progesterone are hormones that affect the way some cancers grow. If tests show that your cancer cells have estrogen, progesterone, and/or testosterone receptors (molecules found in some cancer cells to which estrogen and progesterone will attach), hormone therapy is used to block the way these hormones help the cancer grow. This treatment may include the use of drugs that change the way hormones work, or surgery to remove the ovaries that make female hormones, or the testicles, which produce male hormones.

Immunotherapy/biotherapy

Cancer may develop when the immune system breaks down or is not functioning adequately. Biotherapy is designed to repair, stimulate, or enhance your body’s own immune responses. Treatments such as interferon and colony stimulating factors are used now, either alone, or in conjunction with other modalities such as surgery, radiation and chemotherapy.

Gene therapy

As cancer is a disease caused by damaged DNA, many researchers have tried to find ways to correct this damage by correcting the DNA itself. Some gene therapy strategies aim to replace damaged genes with copies that work - like replacing a faulty part of a car that has broken down.

Photodynamic Therapy

Photodynamic Therapy is presently being used for esophageal cancer, and early stage lung cancer (excluding mesothelioma), where it has been shown to be more than 90 percent effective. It is also being utilized as an investigational therapy for obstructive lung cancer, Barrett's esophagus, head and neck cancer, and skin cancer. Skin cancers (basal cell and squamous cell), may also be effectively treated with PDT. PDT is a two-step procedure that is done on an outpatient basis. You will be injected with a light-activated drug (Photofrin), which targets cancerous cells. Approximately 24-48 hours later, a laser light is directed through a scope onto tumor cells, exposing the cancerous tissue to a certain spectrum of light. The light "switches on" the drug, destroying the cancerous cells without damaging your surrounding healthy tissue.

Chemoembolization

Chemoembolization is an innovative method to treat certain types of liver cancer, whether the tumor began in the liver (liver cancer) or spread to it from another organ (metastasized to the liver). It involves injecting chemotherapy directly into the blood vessels that feed the liver tumor.
A small catheter will be inserted through a needle (with X-ray guidance) into your femoral artery, located in your groin. The radiologist will then thread the catheter up through your aorta (the largest artery, located in your heart) and into the artery in your liver, which is the one that feeds the tumor.
Chemotherapy, mixed with a microsphere is injected directly through the catheter into this artery and into the tumor. When blood flow in the artery stops due to the blockage from the microsphere, the catheter is then removed. This procedure provides a high concentration of chemotherapy into the tumor and provides, what is usually, a temporary cut off of the arterial blood supply to the tumor.

Complementary Therapy

Nutrition Therapy
Pain Management
Naturopathic Medicine
Mind-Body Medicine
Oncology Rehabilitation
Spiritual Support
Image Enhancement

sources : info.cancerresearchuk.org, cancercenter.com

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CANCER DIAGNOSIS

There is no single test that can accurately diagnose cancer. The complete evaluation of a patient usually requires a thorough history and physical examination along with diagnostic testing. Many tests are needed to determine whether a person has cancer, or if another condition (such as an infection) is mimicking the symptoms of cancer.

The following are some of the more common laboratory, diagnostic imaging and biopsy tests :

• Laboratory tests

Blood tests
A variety of blood tests are used to check the levels of substances in the blood that indicate how healthy the body is and whether infection is present. For example, blood tests revealing elevated levels of waste products, such as creatinine or blood urea nitrogen (BUN), indicate that the kidneys are not working efficiently to filter those substances out. Other tests check the presence of electrolytes - chemical compounds such as sodium and potassium that are critical to the body's healthy functioning. Coagulation studies determine how quickly the blood clots.

A complete blood count (CBC) measures the size, number, and maturity of the different blood cells in a specific volume of blood. This is one of the most common tests performed. Red blood cells are important for carrying oxygen and fighting anemia and fatigue; the hemoglobin portion of the CBC measures the oxygen carrying capacity of the red blood cells while the hematocrit measures the percentage of red blood cells in the blood. White blood cells fight infection. Increased numbers of white blood cells, therefore, may indicate the presence of an infection. Platelets prevent the body from bleeding and bruising easily.

Urinalysis
Urinalysis breaks down the components of urine to check for the presence of drugs, blood, protein, and other substances. Blood in the urine (hematuria) may be the result of a benign (noncancerous) condition, but it can also indicate an infection or other problem. High levels of protein in the urine (proteinuria) may indicate a kidney or cardiovascular problem.

Tumor markers
Tumor markers are substances either released by cancer cells into the blood or urine or substances created by the body in response to cancer cells. Tumor markers are used to evaluate how well a patient has responded to treatment and to check for tumor recurrence. Research is currently being conducted on the role of tumor markers in detection, diagnosis, and treatment of cancers.
Some of tumor markers are :prostate-specific-antigen (PSA), prostatic acid phospatase (PAP), CA 125, carcinoembryonic antigen CEA), alpha-fetoprotein (AFP), human chorionicgonadotropin (HCG), CA 19-9, CA 15-3, CA 27-29, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), neuron-specific enolase (NSE).

• Diagnostic imaging: Determining cancer location, size and spread

X-Ray, Computerized tomography (CT), Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), Ultrasound, Radionuclide scanning, Positron emission tomography (PET), Single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT)

• Biopsy: Removing a sample of tissue

Needle biopsy, Endoscopic biopsy, Surgical biopsy.

sources : cnn.com/health, stanford.edu

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SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS OF CANCER

Symptoms of cancer may vary but with any one or more of the following symptoms you should seek expert medical advice without delay. Very often the symptoms may be nothing to do with cancer, but if it is cancer the quicker you are seen by a doctor the better.

As a cancer grows, it begins to push on nearby organs, blood vessels, and nerves. This pressure creates some of the signs and symptoms of cancer. If the cancer is in a critical area, such as certain parts of the brain, even the smallest tumor can cause early symptoms.

Sometimes people ignore symptoms either because they do not know that the symptoms could mean something is wrong or because they are frightened by what they might mean and don't want to seek medical help. General symptoms, such as fatigue, are more likely to have a cause other than cancer and can seem unimportant, especially if they have an obvious cause or only last a short time. In a similar way, a person may reason that a more specific symptom like a breast mass is probably a cyst that will go away by itself. But neither of these symptoms should be discounted or overlooked, especially if they have been present for a long time or are getting worse.

These are many signs and symptoms that may caused by cancer.

General cancer signs and symptoms : unexplained weight loss, fever, fatigue, pain, skin changes.
Specific cancer signs and symptoms : change in bowel habits or bladder function, sores that do not heal, unusual bleeding or discharge, thickening or lump in breast or other parts of the body, indigestion or trouble swallowing, recent change in a wart or mole, nagging cough or hoarseness.

While the signs and symptoms listed above are the more common ones seen with cancer, there are many others that are less common and are not listed here. If you notice any major changes in the way your body functions or the way you feel, especially if it lasts for a long time or gets worse, let your doctor know. If it has nothing to do with cancer, your doctor can investigate it and treat it, if needed. If it is cancer, you'll give yourself the best chance to have it treated early, when treatment is most likely to be effective.

sources : cancer.org, menshealth.about.com

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