Understanding The Risks For Cancer And Its Treatments
Understanding The Risks For Cancer And Its Treatments
There’s no one reason one person gets cancer while another does not. It’s a disease with many different facets. Understanding the risk factors and treatments of cancer will help patients and their families better handle the diagnosis.
Risk Factors
There are thousands of reasons people may get cancer. This does not mean each person will get it when doing the same activity or exposed to the same things, but the risks are always there. Some people are genetically disposed to as cancer runs in their family.
Nothing they do or don’t do will affect if they get cancer. Scientists do epidemiology studies researching groups of people to better figure out the risk factors of the disease. Some risks include older age, family history of cancer, tobacco usage, alcohol abuse, exposure to chemicals, diet and excessive sunlight.
Making lifestyle changes like stopping tobacco, eating a healthier diet and staying out of the sun will help many steers clear of the disease.
Treatment
There are different types of cancer treatments that depend on the stage of the disease as well as the type. Some people may see a difference with one treatment while others will need a combination and other patients will receive treatment for years.
Surgery is used when cancer can be removed fully from the body. Many times a doctor may remove an entire organ, a single tumour or an area of tissue. Radiation is used to shrink tumours and kill off cancer cells.
High doses of radiation are used on the body during this type of treatment. Stem cell transplants use stem cells that restore cells that have been destroyed with cancer treatment. Chemotherapy is done in doses over a period of time using drugs to kill cancer cells.
Targeted therapy watches changes in certain cancer cells and targets these cells. Hormone therapy is used mostly in prostate and breast cancer to slow or stop the hormone growth that leads to the spread of cancer. Speaking with your doctor will help determine the best type of therapy for the patient’s type of cancer and stage of the disease.
Targeting Disease
Targeting cancer and killing the cells so they don’t grow again is one of the toughest battles of the disease. Studies are done every day to find better, faster and more efficient ways to kill cancer cells. One of those studies was done with SABR or Stereotactic Ablative Body Radiotherapy.
This study found that the targeting technique which delivers radiotherapy doses into the cancers produced higher survival rates in those with inoperable lung cancer. This was compared to patients receiving everyday radiation. This study showed patients could receive fewer doses in a faster amount of time, and SABR could help the survival rate of the patient.
Symptoms
The problem with cancer is that there are often no symptoms until it is further developed. Any enlarged pieces of tissue in the body should always be examined for cancer. Many times they are benign but could be cancerous. A rapid loss of weight is also a sign. Blood in the stool or urine should always be checked.
Anemia and fatigue are symptoms. Skin cancer symptoms include changes in moles, dark areas and/or patches on the skin. Sometimes symptoms are everyday things that aren’t cancer while other times they are actually cancer.
Questions
Patients need to ask questions to know how to combat their disease. What are the best ways to treat my stage? How do we know if this type of treatment will work for me? What is my chance of recovery with this type of treatment? What about a clinical trial?