Cancer Treatments
Hey guys i want to start a new series on cancer treatments, a topic which i find really interesting.
Each post we will explore a different treatment
Today i will give an overview of the different treatments.
What are the different treatments?
Chemotherapy, Hormone therapy, hyperthermia, immunotherapy, radiation therapy, blood stem cell transplant, cancer surgery, targeted therapy, ablation therapy.
What is cancer treatment?
As it says in the name, its goal is to eliminate and cure cancer. This is something that to this day there is no 'specific cure' and scientists have been trying to find the cure for decades!
There are over 100 types of cancer and so each will have a different treatment which will work more effectively, therefore it is hard to pinpoint a specific treatment and call it the ultimate cure.
What can help to decide the best treatment?
The type of cancer
The stage of cancer and how advanced it is
The patient's overall health/age etc
Treatment goals and approaches- is it to cure the patient or to help them live a comfortable life before death (like palliative care)
How fast growing the cancer is/ how aggressive it is
What happens during cancer treatment?
Neoadjuvant therapy- a therapy you recieve before your primary treatment eg chemo or radiation to shrink the tumors before surgery.
Primary Treatment- the main treatment for cancer, this is most commonly surgery for when tumours have not spread yet- although it heavily depends on your age, cancer type stage etc
Adjuvant therapy- this normally comes after you have had surgery, an additonal treatment to reduce risk of cancer coming back.
There are also two main categories that doctors use to decide the type of cancer treatment needed:
Local treatment- where you remove tumours in a specific part of your body- especially used in earlier stages where the cancer hasn't spread.
Systemic- destroying cancer cells in secondary tumours (where the cancer has spread), and happens a lot of the time in advanced cancers
The length of the cancer treatment heavily depends on the type of cancer, stage and care aim eg if it is a non-curable cancer then the treatment will usually be ongoing.