Prominent Treatments Used By Doctors To Treat Cancer

Cancer, also known as tumor or malignancy is a disease caused by the formation of abnormal cells in the body. The uncontrolled division of cells in different parts of the body and spreading in the surrounding tissues is what causes cancer. Cancer can initiate in any cell of the human body. Many cancers convert into hard tumors which eventually become irreversible to be treated. 

As per known oncologist, Dr. Sidharth Sahni, in current day and age, women are most hard struck by it. Breast cancer cases are on a rise in our country and there are very less facilities available.   

Let us look at some of the prominent cancer treatment options followed by doctors world-wide:

Surgery:This involves removal of cancer cancerous cells through surgery. Surgery is also used to determine the extent of cancer or staging. There are different surgical procedures for different types of cancers such as prostatectomy for prostate cancer, mastectomy for breast cancer etc.  Sometimes, complete surgical removal of cancer from the body is not possible when the cancer cells have metasized to other parts of the body as well.

Chemotherapy: It involves treating cancer with specific medicines or drugs that can kill cancer cells. These drugs interfere with the natural process of cell multiplication. Chemotherapy can cause harm to healthy tissues which usually recover after sometime. The combination of two or more drugs is sometimes prescribed to achieve the desired result which is known as ‘combination chemotherapy’. As per oncology expert Sidharth Sahani, the process can be daunting for the patient but require when cancer reaches a certain stage.  

Targeted therapy:This involves targeting the cancer cells by deregulating the proteins of target cells by using specific agents. Monoclonal antibody therapy, photodynamic therapy etc. are some of its types. It involves the usage of inhibitors or peptides that binds to the surface of protein of cancer cells. Sometimes high therapeutic ultrasound and lasers are also used under targeted therapy.

Radiation Therapy:Also known as radio therapy or X ray therapy, involves the usage of ionizing radiation to destroy cancer cells or reduce their size. The focused radiation therapy on particular cells makes it difficult for them to grow and multiply. Radiation therapy centers usually carry out radiation sessions in fractions in order to give time to healthy surrounding cells to recover.

Immunotherapy:Cancer immunotherapy refers to strengthening the person’s own immune system to fight cancer. This involves the usage of interferons, cancer vaccines, sipulieucel- T etc. to target the specific cells within body. Bone marrow transplantation from a genetically non identical donor is also a form of immunotherapy in which the donor’s immune cells attacks the tumor in a process known as graft-versus-tumor-effect. The cell-based immunotherapy is also widespread especially in Japan in which the patient’s own cells and lymphocytes are used to kill cancer cells.

Hormonal Therapy:Blocking certain hormones in the body can inhibit the growth of cancer cells. Cancers such as prostate and breast cancer are some of the examples of hormone sensitive cancers. It involves blocking estrogen or progesterone or introducing hormone agonists.

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