Cancer Therapies: From Surgery To Immunotherapy And Their Risks
Being diagnosed with cancer is a spine-shivering moment in a patient’s life. It often comes as a terrifying shock and is emotionally overwhelming to handle for their families. And the next question would be, ‘What are the treatment options available for this cancer? However, the landscape of health care, specifically cancer therapies care, has significantly progressed in offering effective treatment options for cancer. With the help of advanced treatment options, cancer is a more treatable and manageable disease. Understanding the types of cancer treatments helps the patients and their families to make an informed decision regarding their treatment planning.
In this article, we’ll dive deep into the types of cancer treatments and their risks, benefits, and side effects of cancer treatments!
What are the types of cancer treatments
An oncologist often considers one or more combined treatment options for the cure of cancer.
These may include:
- Surgery
- Radiation therapy
- Chemotherapy
- Hormone therapy
- Immunotherapy
- Targeted therapy
- Ablation
- Bone marrow transplant
Surgery
The main goal of performing cancer surgery is to remove all cancer cells and their surrounding healthy cells. With this, an oncologist can further ensure there is no presence of cancerous cells in the body. Surgery is the common treatment option for cancer that has not spread into any distant organs.
Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy uses powerful chemodrugs to destroy cancerous cells in the body. These drugs often travel through the bloodstream, destroying the fast-growing cancerous cells. In some cases, the surgeons might inject the chemo drugs directly into the body cavity or artery that supplies the tumor.
Radiation therapy
Radiation therapy uses high doses of radiation to destroy cancerous tumors. The radiation causes cancerous cells to break down and destroy easily. There are various types of radiation therapy used in patients.
These may include:
External beam radiation therapy (EBRT): Uses a machine outside of the patient’s body to direct radiation towards the tumor.
Internal radiation therapy: Uses radioactive implants near the tumor to kill the cancerous cells.
Hyperthermia therapy: Uses heat to kill cancer cells and shrink tumour into small sizes. This can also make other cancer treatments effective.
Immunotherapy
Immunotherapy is an effective cancer treatment used in cancer patients to stimulate the immune system to identify and destroy cancer cells. Cancer cells thrive to hide from your immune system. With this, the immune system doesn’t destroy cancer cells easily.
Targeted therapy
Targeted therapy often interferes with some specific processes, which allows some cancer cells to thrive in the body. The cancer cells often develop and multiply due to genetic mutations in their DNA. These genetic mutations cause cancer cells to make abnormal proteins that further increase cancer cells’ growth in the body. With the help of targeted therapy, it prevents these types of proteins and stops the cancer cells from growing.
Hormone therapy
Hormone therapy blocks and reduces the hormones that increase the growth of cancer cells.
Some types of cancers grow with the presence of sex hormones like androgens and estrogens. Hormone therapy is often recommended for the treatment of several cancers, including prostate, breast, ovarian, and uterine cancers.
Bone marrow transplant
Stem cell transplants also referred to as bone marrow transplant, used to replace immature blood cells that could become cancerous with healthy cells.
There are two main types:
- Autologous: It uses healthy stem cells from its own body to replace cancerous ones.
- Allogeneic: It replaces the stem cells with those from a donor. The donor must have a similar blood group to the patient.
Precision medicine
Precision medicine, also known as personalized medicine, is used to design treatment plans based on the patients’ genetic makeup and the genetic profile of the patients’ tumors.
Risk of cancer treatments
Cancer treatments can cause several risks and complications to the patients. However, the side effects and risks can depend on the type of cancer treatments the patients receive during their treatment journey. In most cases, the medical team helps to control and prepare the patients to overcome the side effects.
Benefits of cancer treatments
An oncologist often offers a cure for early-stage cancers that have not spread into any distant organs. The majority of cancer patients are living with their five-year survival after getting effective treatments. A five-year survival mark is considered the major milestone because the majority of cancers would remain in a state called remission for at least five years. During this time, the cancer doesn’t reappear in patients.
If an advanced-stage cancer patient gets timely treatment and attention, it helps to increase the life expectancy and improve the overall quality of life. It also helps to reduce symptoms and offer relief from the side effects of cancer treatments for terminal-stage cancer patients.
What are the side effects of treatments
Getting timely treatments often increases the life expectancy and improves the overall quality of a patient. There are some treatments that cause several side effects to the patients. Some side effects might stay for a short period, while some stay for long periods of time.
Short- term side effects
- Fatigue
- Anemia
- Nausea and vomiting
- Pain
- Hair loss
- Constipation
- Mouth sores
- Head aches
- Loss of appetite
- Inflammation
- Skin changes (dryness, itchiness, and rashes)
- Blood clotting
Long-term side effects
- Bone and joint pain
- Cognitive issues
- Digestive problems
- Heart issues
- Mental health issues
- Nervous system problems
- Reproductive system issues
Consult Today
Cancer treatments have become more hopeful and promising with the advancements happening in cancer research and modern medical science. Treatments include cancer surgeries, chemotherapy, targeted therapy, hormone therapy, etc. These treatments’ effectiveness helps to cure cancer and improve patients’ overall quality of life.
Today, India’s health care landscape, especially the cancer care and treatments sector, offers more hope and better treatment outcomes to our cancer patients.
At Oncare, we offer high-quality, advanced cancer treatments at affordable price packages with experienced cancer specialist consultations. If you want to get the best cancer treatment in Delhi for your treatments, visit Oncare Cancer Center and book an appointment with our cancer specialists today. Get an estimated cost of your treatments now!
FAQs
- What are the side effects of cancer treatments
Ans: There are long-term and short-term side effects of cancer treatments are observed in many cancer patients, short term side effects including:
Short terms sides effects of cancer treatments may include:
- Fatigue
- Anemia
- Nausea and vomiting
- Pain
- Hair loss
- Diarrhea
- Constipation
- Mouth sores
- Head aches
- Loss of appetite
- What are the benefits of cancer treatments
Ans: If the cancer is diagnosed in the early stages and the treatment starts immediately, it often saves the patient’s life and reduces the risk of complications. However, people diagnosed with cancer in their advanced stages often help to reduce the symptoms of cancer.
- What are the different types of cancer treatments available for treating cancer?
Ans: There are several types of cancer treatments used for the treatment of cancer, these may include:
- Cancer surgery
- Radiation therapy
- Targeted therapy
- Chemotherapy
- Immunotherapy
- Ablation
- Bone marrow transplant
- Clinical trials
- What are the different types of radiation therapy
Ans: Radiation therapy mostly uses high-energy beams of radiation to destroy the cancer in the patients’ affected areas. There are various types of radiation therapy used in cancer treatments; these may include:
- External beam radiation therapy
- Internal radiation therapy
- Hyperthermia therapy
