Cancer Treatments
More than half of patients that suffer with any form of cancer are treated with the use of radiation. It has been found to be most effective used either alone or in conjunction with other kinds of cancer treatments.
While other treatment methods are very effective in killing, stopping or otherwise disabling cancerous cells, radiation uses ionization to kill the cells and shrink tumors. The desired result of radiation treatment is to shrink tumors and relieve the symptoms associated with different kinds of cancers to save healthy tissue in the process.
Chemotherapy is another cancer treatment that works to destroy cancerous cells by preventing the cells from growing and spreading. Although some healthy sells may be harmed by the use of this method they are quite capable of repairing themselves following treatment.
Chemotherapy uses a combination of drugs that affect the hormones already present in your body. These drugs have a boosting affect on the bodys immune system that aid in fighting the foreign cancerous cells. These drugs can destroy the cells altogether or change the way the body reacts to the cells formations. Use to both control and cure the cancer chemotherapy also relieves symptoms that cancer can cause, like pain which inevitably help the patient to live more comfortably.
Surgery stands as a sometimes-necessary cancer treatment that cannot be avoided. One type of surgery used in the treatment of cancer is cryosurgery, which is a surgical technique for freezing and then killing the cancerous cells. Some cancers like liver cancer and prostate cancer benefit best from treatments that attack cancers that are contained in one area. Cervical cancer and other cancers where precancerous or non-cancerous conditions exist benefit most from this type of cancer treatment.
Other treatment methods include the process of eliminating the blood supply that feed tumor growth. Cancer treatments that use high-intensity light and still others that treat the formation of tumors with heat are less widely known by the general public but are used widely alone and in conjunction with other treatment methods.
One such treatment that uses laser light to remove cancer growths is most often for cancers on the surface of the skin or on the lining of internal organs. Laser therapy eliminates the chance of excessive bleeding and prevents damage to healthy tissue and has a lower chance of infection than other more invasive surgeries for cancer.
On the other hand, a hyperthermia treatment exposes the tissues to very high temperatures that kill cancerous cells. This form of treatment is always used with other forms of treatment such as radiation and chemo.
Cancer treatment that act as angiogenesis inhibitors are being tested and researched as they will aim to prevent the formation of blood vessels that feed the cancerous cells and allow them to continue to grow. This method of treatment is still being tested and its not yet known whether or not these inhibitors work effectively in humans.
About the Author
Darren Dunner is the author of this article on Cancer Treatment . Visit today www.facr.org for more information on the subject.
