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.
Hormone therapy: some types of cancer, including breast and prostate cancer depends on certain hormones for growth. Therefore, the specialist may recommend this type of therapy to prevent cancer cells from collecting or using the hormones needed to be further developed. This is achieved through the removal of ovaries or testes, in some cases, or by drugs that stop the hormone production.
Biological therapy: also called immunotherapy, is a treatment that uses the body itself to protect the body from infectious disease or treatment effects through the immune system.
The doctor may use a method or a combination of methods. The choice of treatment depends on the type and location of cancer, whether the disease has spread, the patient’s age and general health, among other factors.