Posts Tagged ‘chemotherapy’
Common Symptoms of Lung Cancer
Lung cancer is one of the most common cancers in the world. It is the leading cause of cancer death among men and women in the United States. Cigarette smoking causes most lung cancers. A greater number of cigarettes they smoke daily newspapers and the younger you start smoking, the greater the risk of developing lung cancer. Exposure to high levels of pollution, radiation and asbestos can also increase the risk.
Diagnosis and Treatments of Lung Cancer
Lung cancer diagnosis is made by radiological examinations: X-ray Computed Tomography and especially (or CAT scanner) Chest, and confirmed with a biopsy.
Only 15 to 20% of lung cancers are detected in its early stages because the symptoms are delayed. In many cases the diagnosis is usually incidental, that is, by medical evidence that you had another purpose. When diagnosed with lung cancer, additional tests are performed to evaluate different tumor stage (if the initial or advanced) as well as lung capacity and general condition.
Lung cancer chemotherapy
Lung cancer occurs when there is an unusual growth of cells in the lung tissue growth, usually malignant, metastasis and proliferation may lead to other body tissues. This type of cancer is divided by the size and appearance of cells: small cell lung cancer and small cell.
The most common symptoms are usually shortness of breath, cough, including coughing up blood, weight loss, chest pain, hoarseness and swelling in the neck and face, among others.
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Posted in About Lung Cancer | 
Tags: cancer treatment, chemotherapy, Lung cancer, type of cancer | 
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Treatments for cancer patients
Treatments
Surgery: invasive technique to remove the tumor. Usually also extracted tissue surrounding the tumor, to prevent metastasis.
Radiation therapy: high-energy rays are used to damage cancer cells, thereby halting its growth and division.
Chemotherapy is drug treatment, which involves the injection of drugs that attack cancer cells in blood vessels or muscles. Chemotherapy is usually given in cycles, ie, after a treatment period is a recovery.
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Posted in Treatment of Cancer |
Tags: biological therapy, cancer, chemotherapy, drug treatment, hormone therapy, immunotherapy, treatments, tumor |
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Chemotherapy Side Effects
What are the most common side effects?
The most common side effects of chemotherapy include:
* Nausea and vomiting.
* Hair loss.
* Fatigue and malaise.
* Increased likelihood of bruising and bleeding.
* Anemia.
* Infections.
Other problems or symptoms that may occur chemotherapy are:
* Intestinal problems.
* Changes in appetite and weight.
* Sores in the mouth, gums and / or throat.
* Problems with the nerves and muscles.
* Dry skin.
* Irritation of the kidneys and bladder.
* Problems related to sexuality and fertility of reproductive organs.
Chemotherapy Does it hurt?
Many drugs used in chemotherapy to be administered directly into the blood, the vein or injection into muscle, causing a little discomfort.
Moreover, if the drug causes pain, burning, cold or other odd sensation, contact your doctor or nurse immediately, as there may be a small problem of administration.
What is Chemotherapy?
It is called chemotherapy medication used to treat cancer. Sometimes this type of treatment is called colloquially just “chemo.”
The advantage – and problem – of chemotherapy is that it acts throughout the body, so that, in addition to destroying cancer cells in the tumor and those that have metastasized and have spread to other parts of the body away from the primary tumor ( original), it can also affect normal healthy cells.
The drugs used in chemotherapy kill rapidly growing cells throughout the body. The cause of side effects is precisely the harm done to healthy tissue, healthy cells.
Normal cells are most likely to be affected are:
* Blood-producing cells in the bone marrow,
* Cells in the mouth,
* The digestive tract (especially the gut),
* Reproductive system cells
* Hair follicles.
Treatment For Every Stage Of Lung Cancer (II)
Limited Stage
In general, chemotherapy is used as primary treatment, with the use of several drugs in combination.
With chemotherapy is used radiotherapy to the chest. Patients who respond well to initial treatment is administered, so preventive radiation to the head. This is because the brain is one of the sites where metastases frequently occur.
In most patients, these tumors resolve with treatment, but soon reappear becoming resistant to treatment. The survival rate of two years in the limited stage, is 40% to 50% but is reduced by 10% to 20% for five years.
Many studies are underway to test the effectiveness of other treatments such as immunotherapy or gene therapy.
Extensive stage
The prognosis at this stage is very bad if left untreated cancer. Chemotherapy may be used to treat symptoms and flatter short-term survival.
Treatment with two or more drugs can shrink tumors in about 70% to 80% of these patients. Radiation therapy is also used to control symptoms and prevent the occurrence of brain metastases.
Chemotherapy as a Lung Cancer Treatment
Chemotherapy is the primary treatment option in most cases of SCLC. It can easily control the symptoms, which are often very pronounced in this type of cancer. However, the cures are rare and most often accrue past year or two.
Not all patients can be operated on as it will depend on whether they have sufficient capacity to withstand respiratory excision of part or all of the lung and how is your general condition.
In lung cancer, often used a combination of chemotherapeutic drugs. Some of these drugs can be given by mouth or by vein. When they reach the bloodstream, these drugs are spread throughout the body and act against cancer cells, destroying them. For this reason it is very useful in those cancers that have spread to other areas.
Chemotherapy can be given as primary treatment or as therapy to aid surgery. In many cases, chemotherapy is given before surgery, with the intention of reducing the tumor volume and pave the way for a surgeon. Even at times, some inoperable lung cancers become operable after several months of chemotherapy. It is also possible to receive chemotherapy after surgery, even when the entire tumor was removed successfully. The reason is that with this strategy avoids a percentage of relapse and end up healing more long-term patients. We know this kind of cancer treatment as adjuvant chemotherapy.
The choice of treatment of first or second line depends on the type of cancer, and ranges from non-small cell cancer or small cell.
Treatments Of Lung Cancer
Treatment for these patients consist of a combination of several techniques that are surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Each of them will be more effective than the other depending on the type of cancer and the stage where they are. In fact, treatment depends on four factors: the type and extent of spread of the tumor, the patient’s health status and functional status of the various body systems (heart, liver, kidney, neurological, etc.)..
Lung cancer surgery is the treatment modality most likely to be curative, therefore, is resorted to if all of the cancer can not be removed and respiratory status of the patient to tolerate the removal of the portion of lung to be removed.
Small cell lung cancers are very rarely operate, since it is almost always diagnosed extensive stage when only limited is operable. Approximately half of non-small lung cancers can be removed due to its extension. It is therefore essential that there are no lymph metastasis and central area of the chest (mediastinum) are free of tumor and the tumor has not invaded ineradicable structures as the trachea, the aorta or the pleura.
You can remove only a small portion of the lung, if the tumor is very localized, to be called wedge resection or segmentectomy.
If you removed a lobe of the lung is called lobectomy.
If you remove the entire lung, it is called pneumonectomy.