Sunday, March 16, 2008

What is the best cancer treatment

What is the best cancer treatment?
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Cancer - 4 Answers
Random Answers, Critics, Comments, Opinions :
1 :
There is no single "best" treatment. That's why so many treatments are available. There are too many factors to consider...location of the tumor(s), type of tumor(s), age of patient, overall health of patient, etc. See an oncologist and get the right information!
2 :
And if you have treatment, try to ensure that your oncology nurse gives you lots of TLC, and your Oncologist takes time to explain what is happening and what are your options. If you get this - you are getting best treatment. If you don't - change 'em! VeriteR
3 :
You are not going to find the best treatment in an e-mail. Anyone with cancer, or has reasonable grounds to fear they have cancer needs to go to a doctor and have various tests to determine the best treatment.
4 :
Today, radical mastectomy is rarely performed. Instead, the majority of women are candidates for simple mastectomy or lumpectomy. If you decide on mastectomy, you may opt for breast reconstruction. Breast cancer operations include the following: Lumpectomy. This operation saves as much of your breast as possible by removing only the lump plus a surrounding area of normal tissue. Many women can have lumpectomy — often followed by radiation therapy — instead of mastectomy, and in most cases survival rates for both operations are similar. But lumpectomy may not be an option if a tumor is very large, deep within your breast, or if you have already had radiation therapy, have two or more widely separated areas of cancer in the same breast, have a connective tissue disease that makes you sensitive to radiation, or if you have inflammatory breast cancer. If you have a large tumor but still want to consider the possibility of lumpectomy, chemotherapy before surgery may be an option to shrink the tumor and make you eligible for the procedure. In general, lumpectomy is almost always followed by radiation therapy to destroy any remaining cancer cells. But when very small, noninvasive cancers are involved, some studies question the role and benefits of radiation therapy — especially for older women. These studies haven't shown that lumpectomy plus radiation prolongs a woman's life any better than does lumpectomy alone. Partial or segmental mastectomy. Another breast-sparing operation, partial mastectomy involves removing the tumor as well as some of the breast tissue around the tumor and the lining of the chest muscles that lie beneath it. In almost all cases, you'll have a course of radiation therapy following your operation, similar to if you had a lumpectomy. Simple mastectomy. During a simple mastectomy, your surgeon removes all your breast tissue — the lobules, ducts, fatty tissue and skin, including the nipple and areola. Depending on the results of the operation and follow-up tests, you may also need further treatment with radiation to the chest wall, chemotherapy or hormone therapy. Modified radical mastectomy. In this procedure, a surgeon removes your entire breast, including the overlying skin, and some underarm lymph nodes (axillary lymph node dissection), but leaves your chest muscles intact. This makes breast reconstruction less complicated. Radiation therapy uses high-energy X-rays to kill cancer cells and shrink tumors. It's administered by a radiation oncologist at a radiation center. In general, radiation is the standard of care following a lumpectomy for both invasive and noninvasive breast cancers. Oncologists are also likely to recommend radiation following a mastectomy for a large tumor, for inflammatory breast cancer, for cancer that has invaded the chest wall or for cancer that has spread to more than four lymph nodes in your armpit. If you won't be receiving chemotherapy, radiation is usually started three to four weeks after surgery. If your doctors recommend chemotherapy, it's usually administered before you undergo radiation therapy. You'll typically receive radiation treatment five days a week for five to six consecutive weeks. The treatments are painless and are similar to getting an X-ray. Each takes about 30 minutes. The effects are cumulative, however, and you may become tired toward the end of the series. Your breast may be pink, puffy and somewhat tender, as if it had been sunburned. In a small percentage of women, more serious problems may occur, including arm swelling, damage to the lungs, heart or nerves, or a change in the appearance and consistency of breast tissue. Radiation therapy also makes it somewhat more likely that you'll develop another tumor. For these reasons, it's important to learn about the risks and benefits of radiation therapy when deciding between lumpectomy and mastectomy. You may also want to talk to a radiation oncologist about clinical trials investigating shorter courses of radiation or focal application of radiation. Chemotherapy Chemotherapy uses drugs to destroy cancer cells. The size of the tumor, characteristics of the cancer cells, and extent of spread of the cancer help determine your need for chemotherapy. If your cancer has a high chance of returning or spreading to another part of your body, your doctor may recommend chemotherapy after surgery to decrease the chance that the cancer will recur. This is known as adjuvant chemotherapy. If your cancer has already spread to other parts of your body, chemotherapy may be recommended to try to control the cancer and decrease any symptoms the cancer is causing. Because chemotherapy affects healthy cells as well as cancerous ones, side effects are common. Your digestive tract, hair and bone marrow — all composed of fast-growing cells — tend to take the brunt of this toxicity, leading to hair loss, nausea, vomiting and fatigue. Not everyone has all of these side effects, howev



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