Cancer can be treated in four different ways – surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy and immunotherapy and biological therapy. There is another way with which cancer can be treated. It is known as clinical trials, the patient has to meet a certain criteria.
Different ways of treating cancer
1. Surgery: Surgery is done on patients in whom the cancer is at the advance stage. During surgery the tissues/ tumors that have cancer are removed. Surgery goes hand in hand with chemotherapy. There is another type of surgery performed on patients suffering from cancer. It is known as palliative surgery. In this type of surgery the patient cannot be treated for cancer, but his/ her pain can be reduced.
2. Chemotherapy: In this type of treatment drugs are used to remove the cells of cancer. The drugs slow down or in some cases even stop the growth of cancer cells. This therapy is mostly used when the entire body is affected by cancer.
3. Radiation therapy: In this therapy, radiation is used to reduce the tumors or to remove the cancer cells from the patient’s body.
4. Immunotherapy and biological therapy: In this treatment the tumors are allowed to grow. There are therapies that go side by side with the treatment. These therapies stop the blood circulation to the tumors which in turn starves the tumor. Due to which the tumor starves to death.
When the person is diagnosed with cancer, they have to meet a specialist who deals in the treatment of cancer, an oncologist. The oncologist will give the right guidance about which treatment is most suitable for the patient. The specialist prescribes the treatment based on the type of cancer that the person has. The treatment also depends on the age of the patient and the spread of the cancer in the patient’s body.
