Cancer Treatment

This section of our cancer category provides articles, news, and links to cancer treatment sections including information about specific cancer fighting drugs and chemotherapy combinations of various cancer drugs, as well as radiation therapy treatment information for specific cancers.

Today cancer can be treated by surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, immunotherapy, monoclonal antibody therapy or other methods. The choice of therapy depends upon the location and grade of the tumor and the stage of the disease, as well as the general state of the patient (performance status). A number of experimental cancer treatments are also under development.

Complete removal of the cancer without damage to the rest of the body is the goal of treatment. Sometimes this can be accomplished by surgery, but the propensity of cancers to invade adjacent tissue or to spread to distant sites by microscopic metastasis often limits its effectiveness. The effectiveness of chemotherapy is often limited by toxicity to other tissues in the body. Radiation can also cause damage to normal tissue.

Cancer immunotherapy refers to a diverse set of therapeutic strategies designed to induce the patient's own immune system to fight the tumor. Contemporary methods for generating an immune response against tumours include intravesical BCG immunotherapy for superficial bladder cancer, and use of interferons and other cytokines to induce an immune response in renal cell carcinoma and melanoma patients.

Targeted therapy, which first became available in the late 1990s, has had a significant impact in the treatment of some types of cancer, and is currently a very active research area. This constitutes the use of agents specific for the deregulated proteins of cancer cells. Small molecule targeted therapy drugs are generally inhibitors of enzymatic domains on mutated, overexpressed, or otherwise critical proteins within the cancer cell.

The growth of some cancers can be inhibited by providing or blocking certain hormones. Common examples of hormone-sensitive tumors include certain types of breast and prostate cancers. Removing or blocking estrogen or testosterone is often an important additional treatment. In certain cancers, administration of hormone agonists, such as progestogens may be therapeutically beneficial.

Because "cancer" refers to a class of diseases, it is unlikely that there will ever be a single "cure for cancer" any more than there will be a single treatment for all infectious diseases.

Although the control of the symptoms of cancer is not typically thought of as a treatment directed at the cancer, it is an important determinant of the quality of life of cancer patients, and plays an important role in the decision whether the patient is able to undergo other treatments. Although doctors generally have the therapeutic skills to reduce pain, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, hemorrhage and other common problems in cancer patients, the multidisciplinary specialty of palliative care has arisen specifically in response to the symptom control needs of this group of patients. This is an especially important aspect of care for those patients whose disease is not a good candidate for other forms of treatment. As most treatments for cancer involve significantly unpleasant side effects, a patient with little realistic hope of a cure may choose to seek palliative care only, eschewing more radical therapies in exchange for a prolonged period of normal living.

Further Information Regarding Cancer Treatment

Radiation Therapy Treats Pain in Patients with Advanced Cancer
Stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS), a radiation therapy procedure pioneered at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute (UPCI) that precisely delivers a large dose of radiation to tumors, effectively controls pain in patients with cancer that has spread to the spine, according to researchers from UPCI.

New Cancer Research Priorities Needed
Cancer research is too focused on new drug development, while not enough money and effort is being devoted to pursuing important advances in knowledge likely to have the biggest impact on combating the disease in the next few decades.

Oncology Radiation Therapy Methods to Treat Cancer
The treatment of cancer and cancerous tumors has advanced a great deal in the last several years. Survival rates are much higher than they were just a decade ago thanks to advances in medical technology, diagnosis, and treatment which give radiation oncologists the tools needed in the quest to reduce cancer-related mortality until it is no longer a threat.

MicroRNA Replacement Therapy may Stop Cancer
A new study suggests that delivering small RNAs, known as microRNAs, to cancer cells could help to stop the disease in its tracks. microRNAs control gene expression and are commonly lost in cancerous tumors.

New Treatment Safe for Head and Neck Cancer Patients
Patients undergoing treatment for advanced head and neck cancers may respond well to the addition of gefinitib to chemotherapy, according to a study sponsored by the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group.

Personalized Cancer Treatment: New Direction for RNAi Delivery
In technology that promises to one day allow drug delivery to be tailored to an individual patient and a particular cancer tumor, researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, have developed an efficient system for delivering siRNA into primary cells.

Gel Studied as Treatment for Esophageal Cancer
The unique drug therapy delivers a highly concentrated dose of chemotherapy injected directly on to the hard-to-reach tumors in the esophagus non-surgically. Researchers at Rush are trying to determine if the gel treatment can reduce the size of the cancerous tumors.

Acupressure Wristbands Ease Nausea with Cancer Treatment
Cancer patients who wore acupressure wristbands had much less nausea while receiving radiation treatment, making the bands a safe, low-cost addition to anti-nausea medication, according to a study published in the Journal of Pain and Symptom Management by University of Rochester Medical Center researchers.

Researchers Discover Molecular Interplay that Moves Cancer Cells
Based on research that reveals new insight into mechanisms that allow invasive tumor cells to move, researchers at the Mayo Clinic campus in Florida have a new understanding about how to stop cancer from spreading.

High Dosage Brachytherapy For Head and Neck Tumors
High-dosage perioperative brachytherapy (applied within the surgical process) obtains excellent results in the treatment of head and neck tumours, at the same time as reducing the period of radiation.

Radiation for Cancer Treatment
Radiation therapy is one of a number of treatments used in the treatment of cancer, either by itself, or in combination with additional types of treatment; most often chemotherapy or surgery. Radiation therapy is also referred to as, "Radiotherapy".

Chemotherapy for Cancer Treatment
The term, "Chemotherapy," is a general one used in association with any treatment involving the use of chemical agents to stop cancer cell growth. Chemotherapy may eliminate cancerous cells at sites which are at great distances from the original site of cancer development.

Starve Cancer Tumors of Blood
The development of cancerous tumors is highly dependent on the nutrients the tumors receive through the blood. The team of Dr. Janusz Rak, of the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Center (MUHC) at the Montreal Children's Hospital, including Dr. Khalid Al-Nedawi and Brian Meehan, has just discovered a new mechanism that tumors use to stimulate the growth of the blood vessels that feed them.

Cancer Fighting Foods
100 years ago cancer was a rare disease; today it has become a major problem in the industrialized world. Ask yourself these 2 questions; what did we eat back then and what do we eat nowadays? You will agree our food has changed dramatically over the last few decades and our choices now are often made from advertisements because we are influenced by them.

Radiation Treatments - Preparing for and Having Radiation Treatments
Having radiation treatment is sometimes part of having cancer, which can be scary if you are not sure what to expect. I have included an excerpt from my book, Navigating Across the Unpredictable "C", a true life story about the trials and triumphs of living with cancer which has some tips on what to expect prior to having radiation treatment.

New Genes that Fuse in Cancer
Using new technologies that make it easier to sequence the human genome, researchers at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center have identified a series of genes that become fused when their chromosomes trade places with each other. These recurrent gene fusions are thought to be the driving mechanism that causes certain cancers to develop.

Research Shows Cell Inactive State Critical for Cancer Treatment
A new study sheds light on a little understood biological process called quiescence, which enables blood-forming stem cells to exist in a dormant or inactive state in which they are not growing or dividing. Researchers identified the genetic pathway used to maintain a cell's quiescence, a state that allows bone marrow cells to escape the lethal effects of standard cancer treatments.

Should We Treat or Prevent Cancer
Cancer is one of the biggest killers around the world. In America alone, 25% of all deaths are related to cancer. Many people think of cancer as a single problem but in fact, it is a number of problems spread throughout the body. Generally speaking, if cancer is caught in the early stages of development, it can be treated and cured.

Oleander Soup Recipe for Cancer and HIV
With cancer, one of the main problems is the fact that patients first try chemo and radiation to the point where doctors give up and then they try something else. My experience is that those who try the mix without going that route are also the ones who are willing to change their lifestyles (especially diet) and they are the one who pull through. The problem comes AFTER the cancer has been cured and a few are lured back into their old ways - with predictable results.

Poisonous Oleander Cure for Cancer
Doctor Ozel first conducted animal studies to determine that the substance was non-toxic and, once satisfied, he then began human treatments with his oleander extract. After initial success in treating human cancer patients with NOE, Doctor Ozel began to discussing his findings with other professionals in his field.

Is There a Cure for Cancer
There are millions of options and many natural and alternative therapies that are proven to be very effective. There are many treatments available that have been effectively used by many people with cancer, but not the one magic cure everybody has been lead to believe there is.

Ways to Prevent or Fight Cancer
You might want to know how you can possibly prevent and fight cancer, but if you do have or even think you have cancer or any other health condition, be sure to consult your primary care physician for proper diagnoses and treatment. This article is for information purposes only.