Cancer is a disease caused by abnormal cells that grow out of control. In early stages of cancer, abnormal cells are localized in one part of the body and are often clumped together in a tumor. In the last stage of cancer, cells can be dispersed to other parts of the body and may have grown into tumors in more than one organ or type of tissue.
If you have cancer, your doctor will recommend the best treatments depending on the type of cancer (what kind of cells it originated in), the stage of the cancer (how bad it is), certain characteristics about the cancer cells, and your overall health.
There are two general categories for cancer treatments:
• Local treatments – These methods treat the cancer and the area immediately around the tumor but not the rest of the body.
• Systemic treatments – The medications and other treatments travel through the bloodstream to reach cancer cells anywhere in the body.
There are four standard methods used as treatments for cancer:
• Surgery is used to remove tumors and cancer cells by physically cutting them out of the body. This method is often used along with chemotherapy or radiation therapy. When cancer is contained, surgery may be able to remove all the cancer and provide a cure.
When removing the entire cancer is not an option, surgery can be used to remove as much as possible to prolong life, or may be used to reduce discomfort caused by cancer even if life cannot be extended. Surgery is a local treatment that affects only the area where the cancer is located.
• Chemotherapy (chemo) is a cancer treatment that uses drugs to kill cancer cells. Most chemotherapy drugs are given by pill or intravenously (IV). Chemo works by targeting fast growing cancer cells.
But because it is a systemic treatment, chemo drugs also affect other fast growing cells including hair follicles and the lining of the stomach. So chemo can cause undesirable side effects including hair loss and nausea.
• Radiation therapy is a treatment for cancer that uses rays of energy to shrink tumors by killing cancer cells. Radiation damages the genetic code in a cancer cell which prevents the cell from multiplying and making more cancer cells.
Although radiation is a local treatment, the energy beam can cause damage to nearby healthy cells as well as to cancer cells. Radiation is often used in conjunction with surgery and/or chemo.
• Biologic therapy (also known as immunotherapy) is a treatment method that uses the body’s own immune system to help fight the cancer or to reduce the side effects from other treatment methods. This therapy uses laboratory-created antibodies and other substances to alter how the body’s immune system reacts to the cancer.
Examples of this type of treatments include boosting the ability of certain cells to attack and kill cancer cells, making cancer cells more obvious to the immune system so they can be eliminated, or preventing the spread of cancer cells to other parts of the body.
Researchers continue to develop new methods to treat cancer. Clinical trials are in progress on a variety of biologic therapy methods and other possible treatments for cancer. Your healthcare team will advise you about the best available methods to treat your specific kind of cancer.
Sources:
About.com: Cancer. Methods of Treatment for Cancer. Lisa Fayed. Web. October 2, 2011.
http://cancer.about.com/od/treatmentoptions/a/options.htm
University of Pittsburg Cancer Institute. Cancer Information: Cancer Treatments. Web. October 2, 2011.
http://www.upmccancercenters.com/cainformation/treatment.html
National Cancer Institute. Types of Treatment. Web. October 2, 2011.
http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/treatment/types-of-treatment
National Cancer Institute. Biological Therapies for Cancer: Questions and Answers. Web. October 2, 2011.
http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Therapy/biological
Reviewed October 4, 2011
by Michele Blacksberg RN
Edited by Jody Smith