Full Answer
What are the pros and cons of chemotherapy?
Some patients simply do not respond to chemotherapy. Others suffer a recurrence despite treatment, or later develop a second cancer, which might be related to previous chemotherapy treatment. Chemotherapy also harms healthy cells, often producing significant side effects. Chemotherapy is a category of extremely potent drugs that destroy rapidly growing cancer cells.
What are the pros and cons of a cure for cancer?
List of Cons of Chemotherapy 1. Ineffective Treatment to Some. First, chemotherapy may work for someone or it may be completely ineffective. There is... 2. Physical Side Effects. No matter what type of cancer it is or how healthy a person is, chemotherapy will have some... 3. Suffer From Discomfort. ...
What are the possible side effects of cancer surgery?
Radiation therapy has side effects because it not only kills or slows the growth of cancer cells, it can also affect nearby healthy cells. Many people who get radiation therapy experience fatigue. Other side effects depend on the part of the body that is …
What are the challenges of cancer treatment?
Possible side effects of cancer surgery Bleeding. Bleeding is part of any surgery and is usually controlled. Bleeding can happen either inside the body... Blood clots. Blood clots can form in the deep veins of the legs after surgery, especially if a person stays in bed for a... Damage to nearby ...
Why Chemotherapy May Fail
There are multiple reasons why chemotherapy may fail, and oncologists are challenged to circumvent these obstacles.
Different Point of View on Chemotherapy
Not everyone believes chemotherapy is a suitable treatment for cancer. For example, in 1956, Hardin B. Jones, Ph.D., a top statistician in the cancer field and former professor of medical physics and physiology at the University of California, Berkeley, had this to say about chemotherapy.
What are the pros and cons of chemo?
List of Pros of Chemotherapy. 1. Potential to Cure Cancer. When diagnosed at an early stage, when the tumor is yet to become severely malignant, chemo along with a horde of treatments or medications can do away with the cancerous cells. The tumor can be managed and then surgery can completely cure the malignancy.
What is the treatment for cancer?
Chemo or chemotherapy is a treatment for many types of cancer where medications or drugs are used to target and destroy cancer cells. Cancer is caused when cancerous cells start to grow, divide and regenerate rampantly without any order and start to destroy healthy cells or noncancerous cells.
Why is chemotherapy used for cancer?
Chemotherapy is introduced at this stage to reduce the chances of recurrence. If someone is diagnosed at an advanced stage of cancer when surgery would not be a cure, chemotherapy is recommended to manage the symptoms and to provide some relief from the ill-effects of cancer. Chemo in such latter stages helps people to live a relatively normal life.
How long does chemo last?
A person will feel tired or exhausted after every session of chemotherapy. This fatigue may last for a few minutes, a few hours or it can last for days.
Is chemo a simple or an ordinary medical treatment?
Chemotherapy is not a simple or an ordina ry medical treatment. The procedure or the treatment plan itself is complicated and would be influenced by several factors. Chemo or chemotherapy is a treatment for many types of cancer where medications or drugs are used to target and destroy cancer cells. Cancer is caused when cancerous cells start to grow, divide and regenerate rampantly without any order and start to destroy healthy cells or noncancerous cells. Hence, to cure or to manage cancer the cancerous cells must be destroyed. That is what chemotherapy does or aims to do.
Can chemotherapy cause death?
Although rare, chemotherapy can cause or lead to death. There are cases of people who have not been able to endure the treatment of chemotherapy and have succumbed as a result. Chemo isn’t a facilitator of cancer as some perceptions may lead one to believe.
Is chemotherapy a cancer treatment?
Chemotherapy is not confined to cancer treatment. It is also used along with biological or radiation therapy and as a supplementary treatment to different types of surgery. In case of cancer, chemotherapy may be used to make a tumor smaller so it is easier to get rid of during surgery. Chemotherapy can also supplement radiation therapy.
How long does it take for a person to recover from radiation?
Skin changes. Urinary and bladder changes. Healthy cells that are damaged during radiation treatment usually recover within a few months after treatment is over. But sometimes people may have side effects that do not improve. Other side effects may show up months or years after radiation therapy is over.
Does radiation make you tired?
People feel fatigue in different ways and you may feel more or less fatigue than someone else who is getting the same amount of radiation therapy to the same part of the body. Other radiation therapy side effects you may have depend on the part of the body that is treated.
Does radiation therapy cause cancer?
Radiation Therapy Side Effects. Radiation not only kills or slows the growth of cancer cells, it can also affect nearby healthy cells. Damage to healthy cells can cause side effects. Many people who get radiation therapy have fatigue. Fatigue is feeling exhausted and worn out.
Why doesn't cancer spread after surgery?
Cancer does not spread because it has been exposed to air. If you delay or refuse surgery because of this myth, you may be harming yourself by not getting effective treatment.
What are the complications of surgery?
Possible complications during surgery may be caused by the surgery itself, drugs used, and your overall health. Generally speaking, the more complex the surgery is, the greater the risk of side effects. Minor operations and taking tissue samples (biopsies) usually have less risk than a bigger surgery.
Can a biopsy cause cancer?
With the smaller needle, the chances of a biopsy causing a cancer to spread or “seed” are very low. Still, some liver (hepatic), kidney (renal), and other tumors have a very small risk of this happening during a biopsy procedure.
Can surgery cause pain?
Pain at the surgery site is the most common problem. Infections at the site and reactions to the drugs used to numb the area (local anesthesia) are also possible. Some side effects are possible during and after surgery. Generally, these side effects are not expected to be life threatening. They can include:
Can cancer spread through surgery?
You may have heard that surgery for cancer can cause the cancer to spread. It's very rare for surgery to cause cancer to spread. Advances in equipment used during surgery and more detailed imaging tests have helped make this risk very low. Still, there are some important situations when this can happen.
Is surgery a risk?
Any type of medical procedure has risks. Different procedures have different kinds of risks and side effects. Be sure to discuss the details of your case with your health care team, who can give you a better idea about what your risks might be. It is important that the expected benefits of the surgery outweigh the possible risks.
Can anesthesia cause low blood pressure?
Some people have reactions to the drugs used (anesthesia) or other medicines needed during surgery. Although rare, these can be serious because they can cause dangerously low blood pressure. Your heart rate, breathing rate, blood pressure, and other signs will be watched closely throughout the surgery to prevent, look for, or correct this.
Why do you need chemotherapy before car T cells?
A few days before the CAR T-cell infusion, the patient might be given chemotherapy to help lower the number of other immune cells. This gives the CAR T cells a better chance to get activated to fight the cancer.
What antigen is used in cancer?
For example, in certain kinds of leukemia or lymphoma, the cancer cells have an antigen called CD19. The CAR T-cell therapies to treat these cancers are made to attach to the CD19 antigen and will not work for a cancer that does not have the CD19 antigen.
Can car T cells cause cancer?
Possible CAR T-cell therapy side effects. CAR T-cell therapy can be very effective against some types of hard-to-treat cancers, but it can also sometimes cause serious or even life-threatening side effects. Because of this, it needs to be given in a medical center that is specially trained in its use, and patients need to be watched closely ...
Can cancer cells attach to antigens?
Cancer cells also have antigens, but if your immune cells don't have the right receptors, they can't attach to the antigens and help destroy the cancer cells.
What Are the Benefits?
There are many reasons your doctor might think immunotherapy is a good choice for you:
What Are the Risks?
Immunotherapy holds a lot of promise as a cancer treatment. Still, it can cause some problems.
