Methods Of Treatments For Cervical Cancer

Many women with cervical cancer want to take an active part in making decisions about their medical care. It is natural to want to learn all you can about your disease and your treatment choices. However, shock and stress after the diagnosis can make it hard to think of everything you want to ask the doctor. It often helps to make a list of questions before an appointment.

To help remember what the doctor says, you may take notes or ask whether you may use a tape recorder. You may also want to have a family member or friend with you when you talk to the doctor—to take part in the discussion, to take notes, or just to listen. You do not need to ask all your questions at once. You will have other chances to ask your doctor to explain things that are not clear and to ask for more information.

Women with cervical cancer may be treated with surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, radiation therapy and chemotherapy, or a combination of all three methods.

1) Surgery - Surgery treats the cancer in the cervix and the area close to the tumor. Most women with early cervical cancer have surgery to remove the cervix and uterus (total hysterectomy). However, for very early (Stage 0) cervical cancer, a hysterectomy may not be needed. Other ways to remove the cancerous tissue include conization, cryosurgery, laser surgery, or LEEP.

2) Radiation Therapy - Radiation therapy (also called radiotherapy) uses high-energy rays to kill cancer cells. It affects cells only in the treated area. Women have radiation therapy alone, with chemotherapy, or with chemotherapy and surgery. The doctor may suggest radiation therapy instead of surgery for the small number of women who cannot have surgery for medical reasons. Most women with cancer that extends beyond the cervix have radiation therapy and chemotherapy. For cancer that has spread to distant organs, radiation therapy alone may be used.

3) Chemotherapy - Chemotherapy uses anticancer drugs to kill cancer cells. It is called systemic therapy because the drugs enter the bloodstream and can affect cells all over the body. For treatment of cervical cancer, chemotherapy is generally combined with radiation therapy. For cancer that has spread to distant organs, chemotherapy alone may be used.

Causes and Symptoms Of Cervical Cancer

Cervical cancer begins with abnormal changes in the cervical tissue. The risk of developing these abnormal changes has been associated with certain factors, including previous infection with human papillomavirus (HPV), early sexual contact, multiple sexual partners, cigarette smoking, and taking oral contraceptives (birth control pills).

Forms of HPV, a virus whose different types cause skin warts, genital warts, and other abnormal skin and body surface disorders, have been shown to lead to many of the changes in cervical cells that may eventually lead to cancer.

Cigarette smoking is another risk factor for the development of cervical cancer. The chemicals in cigarette smoke interact with the cells of the cervix, causing precancerous changes that may over time progress to cancer.

The most common symptom of cervical cancer is abnormal bleeding, such as between periods or after intercourse. Often there is also a bad-smelling vaginal discharge, and discomfort during intercourse. Women who have had their menopause (who are no longer having periods) may have some new bleeding. Of course, there are many other conditions that can also cause these symptoms, but it is important that you see your doctor or practice nurse about them. It can be embarrassing to talk about these symptoms, but the sooner you see your doctor and a diagnosis is made, the better the chance of treatment being successful. You may not experience any cervical cancer symptoms — early cervical cancer generally produces no signs or symptoms. As the cancer progresses, these cervical cancer symptoms and signs may appear.

Cervical Cancer: Cancer Of The Cervix

The Description

Cervical cancer is one of the most common cancers that affect a woman's reproductive organs. Various strains of the human papillomavirus (HPV), a sexually transmitted infection, play a role in causing most cases of cervical cancer.

Cervical cancer is malignant cancer of the cervix uteri or cervical area. It may present with vaginal bleeding but symptoms may be absent until the cancer is in its advanced stages. Treatment consists of surgery (including local excision) in early stages and chemotherapy and radiotherapy in advanced stages of the disease.

Cervical cancer occurs when abnormal cells on the cervix grow out of control. The cervix is the lower part of the uterus that opens into the vagina. Cervical cancer can often be cured when it’s found early. It is usually found at a very early stage through a Pap test.


The Overview

The uterine cervix is the lowest portion of a woman's uterus (womb). Most of the uterus lies in the pelvis, but part of the cervix is located in the vagina, where it connects the uterus with the vagina.

Cancer of the cervix occurs when the cells of the cervix change in a way that leads to abnormal growth and invasion of other tissues or organs of the body.

Like all cancers, cancer of the cervix is much more likely to be cured if it is detected early and treated immediately.

1) One of the key features of cervical cancer is its slow progression from normal cervical tissue, to precancerous (or dysplastic) changes in the tissue, to invasive cancer.

2) The slow progression through numerous precancerous changes is very important because it provides opportunities for prevention and early detection and treatment.

3) These opportunities have caused the decline of cervical cancer over the past decades in the United States.

Invasive cancer means that the cancer affects the deeper tissues of the cervix and may have spread to other parts of the body. This spread is called metastasis. Cervical cancer don't always spread, but those that do most often spread to the lungs, the liver, the bladder, the vagina, and/or the rectum.

Different Ways Of Treatments For Prostate Cancer

As a person with early-stage prostate cancer, you will be able to choose which kind of treatment is right for you. There can be several reasonable options, which can make the decision difficult. And each choice has its pros and cons.

You will want to think about what is important to you. It's also a good idea to include your spouse or partner in your decision-making process. After all, a diagnosis of cancer and the treatment choice you make affect both of you.

There's more than one way to treat prostate cancer. For some men a combination of treatments — such as surgery followed by radiation or radiation paired with hormone therapy — works best. The treatment that's best for each man depends on several factors. These include how fast your cancer is growing, how much it has spread, your age and life expectancy, as well as the benefits and the potential side effects of the treatment. The most common treatments for prostate cancer include the following:

1) External Beam Radiation Therapy (EBRT) - External beam radiation treatment uses high-powered X-rays to kill cancer cells. This type of radiation is effective at destroying cancerous cells, but it can also scar adjacent healthy tissue.

2) Radioactive Seed Implants - Radioactive seeds implanted into the prostate have gained popularity in recent years as a treatment for prostate cancer. The implants, also known as brachytherapy, deliver a higher dose of radiation than do external beams, but over a substantially longer period of time. The therapy is generally used in men with smaller or moderate-sized prostates with small and lower grade cancers.

3) Hormone Therapy - Hormone therapy involves trying to stop your body from producing the male sex hormones testosterone, which can stimulate the growth of cancer cells. This type of therapy can also block hormones from getting into cancer cells. Sometimes doctors use a combination of drugs to achieve both. In most men with advanced prostate cancer, this form of treatment is effective in helping both shrink the cancer and slow the growth of tumors. Sometimes doctors use hormone therapy in early-stage cancers to shrink large tumors so that surgery or radiation can remove or destroy them more easily. In some cases, hormone therapy is used in combination with radiation therapy or surgery. After these treatments, the drugs can slow the growth of any stray cancer cells left behind.

4) Radical Prostatectomy - Surgical removal of your prostate gland, called radical prostatectomy, is used to treat cancer that's confined to the prostate gland. During this procedure, your surgeon uses special techniques to completely remove your prostate and nearby lymph nodes. This surgery can affect muscles and nerves that control urination and sexual function.

5) Robot-Assisted Laparoscopic Radical Prostatectomy (RALRP) - This is a relatively new procedure for removing the prostate. For robot-assisted laparoscopy, five small incisions are made in the abdomen through which the doctor inserts tube-like instruments, including a long, slender tube with a small camera on the end (laparoscope). This creates a magnified view of the surgical area. The instruments are attached to a mechanical device, and the surgeon sits at a console and guides the instruments through a viewing device to perform the surgery. So far, studies show that traditional open prostatectomy and robotic prostatectomy have had similar outcomes related to cancer-free survival rates, urinary continence and sexual function one year after surgery. Longer term outcomes are not yet known.

6) Chemotherapy - This type of treatment uses chemicals that destroy rapidly growing cells. Chemotherapy can be quite effective in treating prostate cancer, but it can't cure it. Because it has more side effects than hormone therapy does, chemotherapy is reserved for men who have hormone-resistant prostate cancer that has spread to other parts of the body.

7) Cryotherapy - This treatment is used to destroy cells by freezing tissue. Original attempts to treat prostate cancer with cryotherapy involved inserting a probe into the prostate through the skin between the rectum and the scrotum (perineum). Using a rectal microwave probe to monitor the procedure, the prostate was frozen in an attempt to destroy cancer cells. This method often resulted in damage to tissue around the bladder and long-term complications such as injury to the rectum or the muscles that control urination.

8) Gene Therapy and Immune Therapy - In the future, gene therapy or immune therapy may be successful in treating prostate cancer. Current technology limits the use of these experimental treatments to a small number of medical centers.

Cause and Symptoms of Prostate Cancer

The cause of prostate cancer isn't fully understood at present. But there are certain factors that make prostate cancer more likely, which are listed below.

* The risk of prostate cancer increases steadily with age and it is rare in men under 50.
* Your risk of is higher if you have close relatives (a father, uncle or brother) who have had prostate cancer.
* If several women in your family have had breast cancer (especially if they were diagnosed at under 40 years of age) an inherited faulty gene may be present. The gene may also increase the risk of the men in that family getting prostate cancer.
* If you are African-Caribbean or African-American you are at highest risk of prostate cancer whereas if you are Asian, you are at lower risk of prostate cancer.
* A high fat diet may increase your risk of prostate cancer.


Prostate cancer often has no symptoms, particularly in the early stages.

Some men may never have any symptoms or problems from prostate cancer. Some types of prostate cancer can be slow-growing and may not become a serious threat to your health. Whereas others are a faster-growing and aggressive form of prostate cancer and can be more harmful.

You are more likely to get symptoms of prostate cancer if and when your cancer grows in the prostate gland and narrows the urethra. Symptoms of prostate cancer then include:

* problems urinating such as difficulty in starting to pass urine, a weak, sometimes intermittent flow of urine, dribbling of urine before and after urinating, a frequent or urgent need to pass urine or a need to get up several times in the night to urinate
* a feeling that your bladder is not completely empty
* pain when you orgasm
* rarely, blood in the urine

These symptoms are similar to those produced by a common non-cancerous disease where the prostate becomes enlarged (benign prostatic hyperplasia).

If you experience any of these symptoms, you should visit your GP for advice. If prostate cancer is found early, it can often be cured.

If prostate cancer spreads to other parts of your body, other symptoms can develop. The most common site for prostate cancer to spread to is one or more bones, especially the lower back, pelvis and hips. These bones can become painful and tender.

What Is Prostate Cancer?

Prostate cancer is a disease in which cancer develops in the prostate, a gland in the male reproductive system. It occurs when cells of the prostate mutate and begin to multiply out of control. These cells may spread (metastasize) from the prostate to other parts of the body, especially the bones and lymph nodes.Prostate cancer may cause pain, difficulty in urinating, erectile dysfunction and other symptoms.

Prostate cancer develops most frequently in men over fifty. This cancer can occur only in men, as the prostate is exclusively of the male reproductive tract. It is the most common type of cancer in men in the United States, where it is responsible for more male deaths than any other cancer, except lung cancer. In the UK it is also the second most common cause of cancer death after lung cancer. Around 35,000 men in the UK are diagnosed per year; where around 10,000 die of it. However, many men who develop prostate cancer never have symptoms, undergo no therapy, and eventually die of other causes. That is because malignant neoplasms of the prostate are, in most cases, slow-growing, and because most of those affected are over 60. Hence they often die of causes unrelated to the prostate cancer, such as heart/circulatory disease, pneumonia, other unconnected cancers or old age. Many factors, including genetics and diet, have been implicated in the development of prostate cancer. The Prostate Cancer Prevention Trial found that finasteride reduces the incidence of prostate cancer rate by 30%. There had been a controversy about this also increasing the risk of more aggressive cancers, but more recent research showed this was not the case.

Prostate cancer is most often discovered by (prostate specific antigen) screening and less commonly by physical examination or by symptoms. There is some current concern about the accuracy of the PSA test and its usefulness. Suspected prostate cancer is typically confirmed by taking a biopsy of the prostate (biopsy) and examining it under a microscope. Further tests, such as CT scans and bone scans, may be performed to determine whether prostate cancer has spread.

Lung Cancer Prevention: How To Avoid Lung Cancer

Experts have identified several causes of lung cancer. Most lung cancers are caused by the use of tobacco. Changing your lifestyle can, over time, gradually reduce some of your risk factors for developing lung cancer.

Tobacco - Tobacco use is the leading cause of lung cancer. More than 85% of lung cancers are caused by smoking. Secondhand smoke is also a risk factor for lung cancer.

To prevent lung and other cancers, do not use tobacco. If you do use tobacco, you can reduce your risk of developing lung cancer by quitting. Your risk will gradually decrease over 10 to 15 years as your lungs recover. Quitting smoking reduces your risk for developing cancer and your risk continues to decrease as long as you do not smoke. The benefit of quitting smoking is greater the younger you quit.

Even cutting down how much you smoke may reduce your risk (but not as much as quitting completely). In one study, cutting in half the number of cigarettes smoked each day significantly reduced the risk of getting lung cancer during a 5- to 10-year period.

If you live with a smoker, you have 2 to 3 times the risk of developing lung cancer compared with a person who lives in a nonsmoking environment. About 25% of nonsmokers who develop lung cancer probably get it from being exposed to secondhand smoke.

Several products, such as nicotine gum, medicated nicotine sprays or inhalers, nicotine patches, and an oral medication (bupropion), are available to help you to quit smoking. For more information, see the topic Quitting Tobacco Use.


Other Exposure Risk Factors - Other things that increase your risk of lung cancer include asbestos and radon exposure. Certain occupations, such as mining and farming, expose people to fumes, radioactive dust, or other chemicals that may be harmful. Taking precautions to reduce your exposure to harmful substances in your environment can reduce your risk of developing lung cancer.


Diet - Recent studies on the connection between diet and lung cancer have shown mixed results. One study shows that eating a diet rich in nutrients called phytoestrogens may help reduce your risk of lung cancer. Phytoestrogens are found in a wide variety of whole grains, legumes such as chickpeas, vegetables, and soy products. Other research shows that taking supplements of beta-carotene and other vitamins may actually be harmful and increase the risk of lung cancer in people who continue to smoke.


Chemoprevention - Chemoprevention, which is the use of specific medications to reverse, suppress, or prevent cancer growth, is being studied for lung cancer. Chemoprevention has shown some effectiveness in other types of cancers. The results of several large studies on beta-carotene (a vitamin A derivative) use show that this vitamin supplement may actually increase the risk for lung cancer in smokers.

Researchers and doctors are very interested in vaccines for lung cancer. So far, a vaccine to prevent or treat lung cancer has not been found, but research continues.

Treatment For Different Types Of Lung Cancer

We already talked about the two types of lung cancer: Small Cell Lung Cancer and Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer.Now, how to treat these two types of lung cancer ?

1) For Small cell lung cancer (SCLC), chemotherapy is the main treatment for people with small cell lung cancer. In many people, chemotherapy for small cell lung cancer will enable them to live for longer, with better control of symptoms. Chemotherapy may be given on its own, or before radiotherapy. Sometimes chemotherapy and radiotherapy are given at the same time; this is known as chemoradiation.

Surgery is not usually used to treat people with small cell cancer, except if the cancer is found very early. This is because the cancer has usually spread to other parts of the body before being diagnosed, even if it cannot be seen on a scan. If an operation is possible, chemotherapy or radiotherapy may be given after surgery to help reduce the risk of the cancer coming back. Giving treatment in this way is known as adjuvant treatment.

The scans and tests you had to diagnose the cancer may be repeated later, to see how well you are responding to treatment.

Sometimes, radiotherapy is given to the head (known as prophylactic cranial radiotherapy) to reduce the risk of the cancer spreading to the brain. This may be done for people with small cell lung cancer, if chemotherapy has worked very well or if they have had surgery to remove the tumour.

Radiotherapy may also be used very effectively to relieve symptoms, such as pain, in people with advanced small cell lung cancer.

2) For Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), treatment depends on the stage of lung cancer.

Stage 1 : Non-small cell lung cancer can often be removed with surgery. If people have other medical problems, or are not fit enough to have surgery, radiotherapy may be given to the lung tumour instead. Chemotherapy is sometimes used after surgery (adjuvant chemotherapy), to reduce the risk of the cancer coming back. Chemotherapy is also sometimes given before surgery and/or radiotherapy. This is called neo-adjuvant chemotherapy.

Occasionally radiofrequency ablation (RFA) may be used. This is only likely to be suggested if other treatments are not suitable for you. It is only available at some cancer centres.

Stage 2 : It may be possible to remove stage 2 non-small cell lung cancer with surgery. Radiotherapy may be used for people who are not fit enough for, or choose not to have, surgery. Chemotherapy is often given following surgery or radiotherapy, to reduce the risk of the cancer coming back.

Stage 3 : Non-small cell lung cancer can sometimes be removed with surgery, although this is often not possible because it may have spread too far. Chemotherapy, either on its own or combined with radiotherapy, may sometimes be given before an operation (neo-adjuvant treatment). If surgery is not possible, radiotherapy can be given instead. Sometimes chemotherapy given on its own, or in combination with radiotherapy, will be the only treatment used.

Stage 4 : If non-small cell lung cancer has spread to other parts of the body, or is affecting more than one lobe of the lung, radiotherapy may be used to shrink the cancer and reduce symptoms. Sometimes chemotherapy may be given before or after the radiotherapy and may shrink the cancer and improve well-being for some people. The aim is to control symptoms and maintain a good quality of life for as long as possible. Radiotherapy may also be very effective in relieving symptoms such as pain.