Cancer One of the Leading

Cancer

One of the leading causes of death in America and World-Wide today is cancer. While this disease was once a very mysterious occurrence, today there is a deep scientific understanding of the functionality of cancer cells and growth. There are many specialized scientific procedures and medications that take details regarding the nature of cancer cells into account, from attacking their ability to reproduce, to convincing them to return to a normal state, or even combatting them with cell transplants. Radiation, cytoplasmic drugs, refined surgical techniques, gene therapy, and even viral attacks on the cancerous cells themselves are regular treatment options. However, there may be answers to solving the cancer dilemma question that lay outside of modern, traditional medicine. "There are many alternative cancer therapies that can be valuable assets in cancer treatment." (Quillin) Alternative therapies may be more effective, less invasive, less expensive, and have fewer side-effects than normal medicinal therapies. All cancer treatment options should be carefully considered by the patient and his or her family.

One of the main treatments for cancer is surgery. (Cancerhelp) Surgery is a local treatment, not a treatment that affects the entire body, which means that it is not an option if the cancer has spread to multiple parts of the body or to cover a very large area. In instances of wide-spread cancer, systematic treatments must be sought, such as chemotherapy or hormone therapy. Surgery may cure cancer, at least temporarily, if the cancer can be completely removed. In order to accomplish this completely, a border area of healthy, unaffected cells which surround the cancerous cells must be removed as well.

Often times, however, it is difficult to determine if the cancer has spread to other areas until after the surgery has been attempted. These cancer cells which may have spread to another part of the body may be referred to as secondary cancers, and when they are too small to see on scans they are called micrometastases. These micrometastases, when discovered during surgery, can complicate, lengthen, delay, or even stop the operation. Cancer cells are most likely to spread to particular areas of the body, such as the nearest main lymphatic vessels and lymph nodes to the primary cancer, so during surgery these are often removed to safeguard against micrometasteases. The organ in which the cancerous cells are found is often removed in its entirely as well.

Surgery is often used in conjunction with another therapy method, or an adjuvant treatment method. For example, radiotherapy or chemotherapy may be used after surgery to help combat the threat of cancer appearing in other parts of the body.

Neo-adjuvant treatments are used in conjunction with surgery as well, but these are used before the surgery, rather than after, to help shrink the cancer so that removal by operation will be simpler.

There are, of course, many problems which are common after surgery to remove cancer. Common problems for this type of surgery are also present in almost any surgical procedure, including pain, local infection, chest infection, blood clots, and fluid collection around the wound. (Cancerhelp) In order to help prevent chest infection and blood clots, patients must begin moving around and getting lightweight physical activity soon after surgery. Breathing exercises can also help to prevent chest infections, while specific leg exercise can prevent blood clots in the legs. Pain medication and physical therapy both help to aid in the healing process by providing comfort and making physical movement easier for the patient. Another method which helps to prevent infection is the insertion of drainage tubes at the operation site, which helps control the pain that infection that would accompany fluid buildup at the wound site. Surgery can also have long-term complications, such as nerve pain or lymphoedema. Nerve pain may occur even months after an operation due to nerve ends, which were severed or removed during surgery, growing back. Usually, the burning sensation of nerve pain is temporary and lasts only a few months. However, occasionally nerve pain can become a permanent condition, leaving a patient with constantly burning nerve ends. Lymphoedema is fluid build up in an area where lymph nodes have been removed. This condition is most common in the arms and legs, but can happen anywhere in the body. Lymphoedema, which may become apparent through swelling of the hands or feet, cannot be cured. Lymphoedema must be controlled with treatment for the rest of the patient's life.

Chemotherapy, which is often used in conjunction with surgery or alone, simply means that anti-cancer drugs are used as treatment, stemming from the words "chemical" and "therapy." While literally not being very specific in meaning, chemotherapy drugs are specifically those used in order to kill cells, which means they are cytotoxic drugs. Chemotherapy can be used to shrink cancer before surgery (as a neo-adjuvant treatment), to help prevent reoccurrence of cancer after a surgery (as an adjuvant treatment), in conjunction with radiotherapy, as a solitary treatment for cancer, or to help control symptoms and the speed of growth when cancer is too advanced to cure by any means. (Cancerhelp) Immunotherapy and biological therapy are closely related to chemotherapy, as they are also drugs which are used to help cure or treat cancer. However, these drugs are not referred to as chemotherapy drugs because of the way in which they were developed. There are currently sixty or more cytotoxic drugs in relatively common use that are referred to as chemotherapy drugs, and this number is always increasing as new drugs are developed and approved for use. Chemotherapy drugs may be administered in a hospital, with the time needed in the hospital ranging from a couple hours to several weeks for each treatment. Other drugs are available to take at home with no hospitalization needed.

Chemotherapy is a systemic treatment, however not all types of cancer respond to this treatment. Testicular cancer and Hodgkin's lymphoma are types of cancer that are particularly treatable with chemotherapy. Chemotherapy is not an appropriate treatment for everyone, and each individual chemotherapy drug has a different set of situations in which it will be considered the most effective and appropriate. Some of the factors which must be considered when considering chemotherapy, and deciding on a specific drug to use, include the type of cancer, where in the body the cancer originated, the "grade" or appearance of the cancerous cells, whether the cancer has spread, and what other treatments have been attempted or are in current use. Chemotherapy may be used alone, with radiotherapy, with surgery, with hormone therapy, with immunotherapy, or with several of these treatments. A bone marrow or stem cell transplant (using the patient's own cells) may accompany a high dose treatment of chemotherapy, allowing the body to replenish the cells which were killed by the drugs used.

Chemotherapy may damage cells which are not affected by cancer, however chemotherapy drugs will cause more damage to cancerous cells than to healthy ones. Certain healthy cells, such as those which are in the process of dividing into two cells, are more susceptible to the chemotherapy drugs. However, while this means that many healthy cells are at risk, this is the basic principle that allows chemotherapy to kill cancer cells. Cancer cells divide far more often than normal cells, growing and multiplying at high rates. This means that the cancer cells will sustain far more overall damage than healthy cells. The genetic material within the nucleus is attacked by chemotherapy either while the cells are splitting, or while the genes are copying in preparation for the cell division. Chemotherapy drugs of these different kinds may be used in conjunction with each other in order to attack the cancer cells at both stages and present a higher chance that all cells will be destroyed.

The often severe side-effects of chemotherapy are caused because the drugs do cause damage to healthy cells. All cells which are dividing, such as in tissues like the skin that grow constantly, will be negatively affected. The hair and lining of the digestive system are also constantly renewing. Hair loss is common with chemotherapy, as are digestive problems such as chronic diarrhea. Fortunately, healthy cells can repair damage at a much faster rate than cancerous cells can do so, which means that after the chemotherapy ends most symptoms fade. However, lasting damage to healthy cells is a concern.

Radiotherapy is a cancer treatment that uses high energy rays to kill cancer cells, and can be used for the same basic purposed as chemotherapy. (Cancerhelp) There are both internal radiotherapy treatment options and external radiotherapy treatment options. The experience of having external radiotherapy may be performed using X-rays, cobalt irradiation, or electrons, while internal radiotherapy may be performed with a radioactive drink, injection, wires, or pellets that are placed near the affected area. The treatment, like an X-ray, is not painful, and in fact cannot be felt at all during the treatment. Approximately forty percent of patients undergoing treatment for cancer have radiotherapy. Radiotherapy, like chemotherapy, does damage healthy cells as well as cancerous ones. However, because healthy cells can repair damage more effectively, the cancerous cells in an area sustain more damage from the treatment. In order to help the healthy cells recover from the radiotherapy, after five days of treatment a patient will often have two days without the treatment.

Radiotherapy may be used as a curative treatment, by which the aim is to completely cure the cancer and destroy the tumor. When used as a curative treatment, the treatment may go on for an extended period of time, depending on the size and location of the tumor. As a palliative treatment, the aim is to relieve symptoms of the cancer. This is not usually done for an extended period of time, but rather done in one day or several days. As a neoadjuvant treatment, the aim of radiotherapy is to shrink a tumor, or help prevent it from spreading, in conjunction with surgery. As an adjuvant treatment, it is used after surgery to prevent trace amounts of the tumor not removed by surgery from developing. When chemotherapy is used as total body irridation, it is used to destroy bone marrow cells. After these are destroyed, new marrow cells are implanted, either from the patient's own body or from a donor.

While external radiotherapy is normally performed as an outpatient procedure, internal radiotherapy is more often an inpatient procedure. Implants may be metal tubes, seeds, or wires, which are placed internally near the site of the tumor. Tubes and wires will be removed after a period of time, however some seeds are not removed because they stop being radioactive after a short period of time. Internal radiotherapy may also be done through liquids, such as a drink, injection into the vein, or injection directly into the tumor. Often a patient must be hospitalized for days after internal liquid radiotherapy due to the dangers of radioactivity which will escape the body, but some types of treatments are low-dose enough that it is safe to go home immediately. The danger of radioactivity to non-patients is a concern, so patients and their belongings are tested for radioactivity before leaving the hospital after a treatment. After some radiotherapy treatments, even when the patient is allowed to leave the hospital, he or she may be advised to stay away from children and the elderly due to residual radioactivity.

Radiotherapy has many of the same side effects as other cancer treatments. These side effects include:

The skin looking darker, as if tanned

The skin feeling leathery or different

Hair being a different color or texture after growing back

Permanent hair loss in some areas

Broken blood vessel marks

Loss of stretchiness in the skin or other tissues

Fluid blockage to the arms or legs

Infertility (Cancerhelp)

The loss of elasticity in the tissues is called radiotherapy fibrosis. This fibrosis can in and of itself cause a variety of problems throughout the body, depending on the site of the cancer and treatment. For example, if treatment is in the bladder or in the area of the bladder, the bladder may hold less urine, and the patient may need to use the restroom more often. In the case of breast cancer treatment, the breast may feel harder to the touch and may not appear identical to the other breast due to the changes from treatment. In the case of vaginal cancer, or cancer in that vicinity, there may be a loss of stretchiness of the vagina. It may also become narrower and interfere with sexual activity. Swelling in the arm or leg after shoulder or groin surgery is normal, though fluid buildup must be monitored in case of a serious problem. Lung or chest treatment can lead to problems such as difficulty breathing, as the lungs are prone to losing elasticity. Throat treatment may cause problems with the esophagus, such as difficulty swallowing. A complication of fibrosis is that it can take months or even years for the symptoms to occur. This means that problems may show up unexpectedly and cause lasting pain and discomfort, after a patient has decided he or she is finally free of the pain of cancer. The lungs in particular are susceptible to problems with fibrosis, and this can seriously complicate the breathing problems that are inevitable after having lung cancer. Pneumonitis may also develop over months or years following lung treatment, which is a serious lung condition appearing in about ten percent of patients. This is a progressive disease that includes shortness of breath and coughing. (Cancerhelp)

There are a number of ways that doctors attempt to minimize the occurrences of side effects. First, the lowest possible effective dose of radiation will be used in treatment. However, the risks and benefits must be weighed because the lower the dose of radiation, the less likely the cancer will be cured. However, higher doses of radiation inevitably have a higher risk of side effects and damage to healthy cells. Doctors also calculate the safest amount of radiation for each particular part of the body, because some areas of the body are more sensitive to the effects. Additionally, doctors will plan a treatment that avoids overlapping the areas that will be contacted by treatments from different angles, and the best angles to treat a cancer are carefully considered. For example, breast cancer will be treated from an angle, rather than from the front, so that less radiation directly hits the lungs. Conformal radiotherapy, or shaped radiotherapy beams that are specialized to hit the cancer most directly. However, the severity of the reaction of healthy cells to the treatment is not something which can be tested for each individual, and once again it is important to not be ineffective against the cancer in an attempt to be safe from side effects. (Cancerhelp)

Hormone therapy is another treatment option, which uses sex hormones or drugs that stop sex hormones. This is only used for certain types of caner which are hormone-sensitive or hormone-dependent. This includes breast cancer, prostate cancer, and uterine cancer. Additionally, they may be used for kidney cancer and melanoma. For the treatment of breast cancer and prostate cancer, sex hormones are blocked because the cancer is dependent on these hormones. The cancer is stimulated by estrogen in the case of breast cancer, and testosterone in the case of prostate cancer. Taking hormones, however, can shrink other cancers, and this treatment method is often used when cancer is very advanced, or to help prevent cancer from recurring. Progesterone, for example, may treat uterine cancer or kidney cancer. (Cancerhelp)

Gene therapy, also known as molecular therapy, is used to treat cancer in a number of ways. Gene therapy can block abnormal genes in cancer cells, repair or replace abnormal genes in cancer cells, make genes in cancer cells abnormal so they are sensitive to anti-cancer treatments, or put viruses in cancer cells. This may make cancer cells return to being non-cancerous, or gene therapy may cause cancer cells to die. Gene therapy may also be used to block or destroy the enzyme that allows cancer cells to be immortal, which would allow them to age and die like a normal cell. (Cancerhelp)

Cancer is so difficult to combat because just one cancerous cell can spread and grow. Treatments may effectively remove all but one single cancer cell, but the disease will come back from that one cell. Before or during surgery, a single cell may break away from the primary cancer and avoid removal. Chemotherapy only attacks cells which are dividing, and inevitably not all cancer cells will be dividing at the same time. Combining chemotherapy and radiotherapy, and performing a series of treatments rather than a single one, can help to prevent cancer cells from escaping this treatment. However, most cancer treatments do not attempt to kill every single cancer cell because of the risk of terrible side effects from the treatment. Instead, doctors hope that the body's immune system will kill any straggling cells. (Cancerhelp)

Certainly, cancer treatments are not perfected. This is part of the reason that it is important for patients to consider alternative treatments. One approach to combating cancer that is considered to be an "alternative treatment" by some people is to identify the causes of cancer and attempt to prevent the development of cancer by avoiding causal factors.

Sunlight, for example, may cause cancer. Damage to the ozone layer or other environmental factors, more ultraviolet radiation is present in the sunlight to which people are exposed. Lifestyle changes also have an effect on how the sunlight affects skin, because people will spend too long in the sun at once to make up for all of the time indoors. Sunlight has been shown to be a contributing factor in the development of skin and other cancers. (Sodhi) Electromagnetic field exposure, which emanates from electrical currents in home wiring, overheated lights, televisions, microwaves, and other electric appliances. Electromagnetic fields are everywhere, and according to alternative views, they can cause an imbalance in a person's biological makeup and therefore also be a cancer-causing agent. (Sodhi) Another alternative view of cancer is that chemicals, such as formaldehyde in wood, mold in basements, and chemicals in carpet, lead to an imbalance in the immune system. This imbalance makes the body unable to detoxify itself, and instead all of the toxins from the environment build up in the body. These toxins can lead to many illnesses, including cancer. (Sodhi) Radiation, which has been shown to be an effective traditional treatment for cancer in certain dosages, can also cause cancer. X-rays, television, and other things expose people to radiation daily. Radiologists have been shown to have high rates of cancer, due to their proximity and regular exposure to X-ray equipment. Nuclear plants have also been linked to a high rate of cancer. (Sodhi) Pesticides and herbicides, chemical poisons that are regularly used on food, may actually mimic estrogen in the body. As discussed in the hormone-therapy section, certain hormones can encourage cancer to grow. Similarly, hormone therapy, such as prolonged use of contraceptives and post-menopausal treatments, may also cause cancer.