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| Treatment of Cancer |
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| Treating cancer is difficult because it is not a single disease and because all the cells in a single tumour do not behave in the same way. Cancer can be controlled in early stages and control depends upon the locations and spread of the cancer. So, the key to cancer treatment is early detection. The therapeutic strategies vary, depending on the etiology of each individual cancer. |
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| 1) Surgery |
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| It involves the removal of cancerous parts by operative methods. Tumours are excised by surgical methods. But it does not make sure that all the cancer cells have been removed. All tumours are not accessible for surgery also. In breast tumour or uterine tumour, it is most effective but other treatments are also given to kill any cells that may have been left. |
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| 2) Radiation therapy |
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| In this, the cancerous parts of the body are exposed to ionising radiations like x-rays, which kill the cancerous cells. It gives good results in skin, lip, mouth and cervix cancers. Radiation therapy is used in 80% of cancer patients. The basic principle here is to bombard the cancer cells with rays that damage or destroy the cancer cells but produce minimum damage to the surrounding normal tissue. However, it also causes damage to tissues in the vicinity of tumour mass. |
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| 3) Chemotherapy |
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| In chemotherapy, a variety of anti-cancer drugs are used that produce more injury to cancer cells than to normal cells. These drugs interfere with the cell division and growth and affect both normal and cancerous cells. Some drugs can specifically kill tumour cells. Majority of them have a number of side - effects. Chemotherapy may lead to hair loss or anaemia but both get corrected after the treatment is stopped. |
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| 4) Hormonal therapy |
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| In this, a hormone - caused cancer is treated by another hormone which neutralises carcinogenic hormones. For e.g., breast cancer can be controlled by Testosterone. |
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| 5) Supportive therapy |
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| As the cancer cells progress and various therapies are tried, the patient becomes increasingly prone to infection, anaemia or haemorrhage. In supportive therapy the antibiotics are used to prevent infection or transfusions are given to check anaemia. |
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| 6) Immuno therapy |
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| This is a recent approach to cancer treatment. This involves augmentation of natural anti-cancer immunological defence mechanisms. Monoclonal antibodies are used in this method. |
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