Have You Received A Cancer Diagnosis? These Are The Treatments Your Doctor May Suggest

If you've just been diagnosed with cancer, you're probably overwhelmed with all the decisions you need to make. Cancer treatments are usually more effective when they are started early in the course of the disease. There are a few different options for therapy, and many times, more than one treatment is given in order to get the best outcome. This is how the most common treatments your doctor may suggest might help you.

Surgery

Surgery might be a good choice if you have a tumor that is small enough to be removed, and that hasn't metastasized yet. The surgeon removes the tumor along with a margin of nearby healthy tissue in order to get the cancer out of your body. An example of this is with colon cancer when the doctor removes cancerous polyps during a colonoscopy.

If your cancer is more advanced, your doctor may recommend surgically removing your tumor even if it has metastasized. This may be done to relieve pain caused by the tumor, or to keep the tumor from pressing on vital organs.

Radiation

Radiation treatments are sometimes given before surgery in order to shrink the tumor so it is easier to remove. Other times, radiation is given after surgery to kill cancer cells still left in your body. Radiation therapy could also be the main course of treatment, or it could be used in combination with other forms of cancer treatment.

At least 50 percent of people with cancer receive radiation treatments. This can be in the form of a precise beam of radiation directed at your tumor, or in some cases, the treatments can be done internally by implanting radioactive material into your body.

Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy has several different uses in the treatment of cancer. Your doctor chooses specific drugs that target the type of cancer you have, and you receive them over the course of several weeks.

Chemotherapy can be the primary treatment, or it can be used to kill stray cancer cells after surgery or radiation treatments. Chemotherapy drugs are used to kill cancer cells. You may receive a single drug or a cocktail of several drugs in an effort to combat your disease.

Immunotherapy

Immunotherapy is a cancer treatment that works by triggering your own immune system to fight off the foreign cancer cells. It can be used in different ways, and is offered by specialists such as Allergy & Asthma Clinic of Wyoming LLC. The treatment causes antibodies to attach to cancer cells. This helps your immune system destroy them or keep them from growing.

Since these antibodies target cancer cells, they can also be used to deliver radiation or chemotherapy drugs directly to those cells while leaving nearby healthy cells unaffected.

The type of treatment best for your type of cancer depends on several factors. Your doctor has to consider the location of the tumor, its size, the presence of metastasis, the type of cancer you have, and your general health. By understanding how each type of treatment works, you'll have more confidence you and your doctor choose the best course of treatment for your disease.

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