Various treatment modalities are available for cancer. Some are “local” treatments like surgery and radiation therapy, which are used to treat a specific tumor or area of the body. Medicines used to treat cancer (such as chemotherapy, immunotherapy, or targeted therapy) are often called “systemic” treatments because they  enter the blood and work on the entire body.

 

Cancer Surgery

Surgery has been used to diagnose, stage, treat and palliate cancer. Surgeons remove your tumor tissue to offer cure or relieve symptoms.

 

Chemotherapy

The word “chemotherapy” (“chemo”) means that medicines or drugs are used to treat cancer. These drugs are either cytotoxic, meaning they can kill tumor cells. These medicines are given as injections through the veins or as oral tablets to act on certain pathways of the cancer cell cycle.

 

Radiation Therapy

Radiation therapy involves using radioactive particles like photons, electrons, neutrons, protons to treat cancers. Radiation may be used alone or with other treatments, such as surgery, chemotherapy, hormones, or targeted therapy.

 

Targeted Therapy

Targeted therapy means certain drugs are given to precisely identify and attack certain types of cancer cells. These magic bullets are chemicals directed against certain cell receptors. It can be offered alone or in combination with other treatments, such as traditional or standard chemotherapy, surgery, or radiation therapy.

 

Immunotherapy

Immunotherapy directs a person’s own immune system to fight cancer. Immunotherapy can boost or change how the immune system works so it can find and attack cancer cells. 

 

Stem Cell or Bone Marrow Transplant

A stem cell transplant, also called a bone marrow transplant, is used to treat certain types of cancer. This procedure might be called peripheral stem cell transplant or cord blood transplant, depending on where the stem cells come from. Either allogenic (different donor cells) or autogenic (own cells) are used for transplant.

 

Hormone Therapy

Hormones are substances produced by the body to control function of certain types of cells.

Some cancer cells depend on hormones for their growth. Because of this, treatments that block or alter hormones can sometimes help slow or stop the growth of these cancers. Hormone therapy is mostly used to treat certain kinds of breast cancer and prostate cancer that depend on sex hormones to grow.

 

Multimodality treatment

Multimodality treatment uses a combination (two or more) of the above treatments to manage cancers and achieve the best outcomes.

 

Multidisciplinary approach

Multidisciplinary approach means a team of oncologists and other experts (including medical/ surgical/

radiation oncologists, nurses, nuclear physicians, physiotherapists and rehabilitation experts, etc) are

involved to deliver the best possible care.

 

1. Symptoms of cancer:

 

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2. Causes of cancer:

 

Cancer is a result of uncontrolled growth with a capacity of the cells to separate from the main tumor and invade adjacent structures or spread to lymph nodes and/ or other organs.

The Hallmarks of Cancer are a set of functional capabilities acquired by human cells as they make their way from normalcy to uncontrolled growth states.