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10 Less-Known Facts about Different Types of Cancer Treatments
By Raveena M Prakash
Cancer treatment has come a long way—from no treatments for cancer to successful recovery and better treatment outcomes. With the help of early diagnosis and advanced cancer treatments, the landscape of modern cancer care and treatments offers great hope for millions of cancer patients across the world. With the advancements of cancer research, the effectiveness of different types of cancer treatments has significantly improved patient recovery, lowered side effects, and reduced the side effects of cancer treatments.
In this article, we’ll discover more lesser-known facts about various types of cancer treatments and how these treatments increased the effectiveness of treatments.
Here are some 10 hidden facts about cancer treatments:
1. Immunotherapy can train the body to attack cancer cells
Immunotherapy is an effective cancer treatment that stimulates the cancer patient's immune system to identify and attack more cancer cells. The immune system identifies and destroys any foreign intruders, including any cancerous cells. However, in some cases the cancer cells often hide and trick the immune system into identifying them as healthy cells.
These cancer cells might activate a type of checkpoint process. It can influence the immune system to attack the cancer cells in the early stages. That’s when your doctor suggests the treatment of immunotherapy to manage the cancer growth. There are three major types of immunotherapy: checkpoint inhibitors, CAR T cell therapy, and cancer vaccines.
2. Not all chemotherapy cause hair loss
Not all chemotherapy drugs cause hair loss in cancer patients. There are some chemotherapy drugs that are gentler. There are devices, like scalp cooling devices commonly known as cold caps, that help to reduce and prevent extreme hair loss in many cancer patients during their treatments.
Some patients only experience hair thinning along with the loss of facial, body, and pubic hair. It mainly depends on the type of cancer and the severity of chemotherapy drugs, along with individual variations in patients.
3. Cancer treatments use viruses (Oncolytic virotherapy)
Oncolytic virotherapy is an effective cancer treatment and is a type of immunotherapy, which is often used in the treatment of several cancers. This treatment is used in the early stages of cancer. Oncolytic virotherapy is a promising cancer treatment used to destroy or kill the cancer cells while leaving the healthy cells without causing any harm.
4. Targeted therapy reduces harm to any healthy cells
Targeted therapy is used to destroy cancer cells without harming any healthy cells. In this treatment, the oncologists identify any genetic mutations or changes in your body that often turn normal cells into cancerous cells. During this treatment, doctors target the specific parts of cancer cells or the body that have some genetic mutations. Because of this, targeted therapy is often known as precision medicine or personalized medicine.
5. Nutrition and diet plays a huge role
Cancer is an aggressive disease that often requires aggressive treatments. However, nutrition and diet play a big role in preventing the growth of cancer while also supporting the patient both during treatments and its recovery phases, just like diabetes or heart diseases. Nutrition and cancer are associated with each other; for example, a healthy, balanced diet and nutrition might improve the quality of patients with cancer while adding nutritional support to the patients.
Nutritional oncology is another new field that also uses both precision nutrition and precision oncology to manage cancer cell growth, treatments, prevention, and survivorship of patients.
6. Some cancers treated without chemotherapy
Some early stage cancer cases such as prostate, thyroid, skin cancer won’t require the need of chemotherapy for their treatments. In these cases, the doctor recommends surgery and radiation therapy used as the primary treatment to cure cancer in patients. Doctors mostly decide the treatment plan based on the individual's medical condition, type of cancer, and its risk. However, chemotherapy is often used in the advanced stages of these cancers.
7. Radiation therapy is also given through Injection
Radiation therapy, also known as radiotherapy, uses radiation to destroy cancer cells. However, radiation therapy given through injection (IV) is also known as systemic therapy or radionuclide therapy. In this treatment, the doctor gives the patient a radioactive solution through their blood to identify and destroy the cancer cells.
8. Cancer treatments is becoming personalised with cancer vaccine
Cancer vaccines are a type of immunotherapy that helps to protect against cancer with the immune system and helps to identify cancer cells. These vaccines work by stimulating the immune system to destroy the cancer cells, often using all or part of cancerous cells or specific antigens to identify any harmful tumor cells in the body. This is an example of personalized cancer treatment, which is more effective and has fewer side effects when compared to other conventional medicines.
9. Hormone therapy reduces the risk of cancer recurrence
Hormone therapy along with surgery, radiation therapy, or chemotherapy has been claimed to reduce the risk of breast cancer recurrence in patients with early-stage hormone cancers. Some studies also claim that it will reduce the risk of metastatic breast cancer growth and spread in patients with hormone-sensitive cancers.
10. Mental health care is a core part of cancer treatment
Cancer is not just a physical disease; it affects both the mental and emotional well-being of a patient. Many cancer patients experience depression, anxiety, and stress and are now taking several therapies to cope with the treatments and their side effects. The doctors also advise them to join cancer support groups to get more understanding about their cancer treatment journey. There is a specific field known as onco-psychiatry or psychiatric oncology, mainly for the people dealing with cancer diseases.
Consult Today
Cancer treatments are changed significantly, offering more effective, personalized, and less aggressive treatment options to the patients. The advancements in cancer research have focused on reducing the side effects of cancer treatments such as chemotherapy, improving overall treatment outcomes, and offering more personalized treatments to patients.
At Oncare, we understand the value of effective and safe treatments and proper guidance before any major cancer treatments, and we offer more personalized guidance to each patient and their family before and after their treatments.
If you or any loved ones of yours are diagnosed with cancer or are having symptoms of cancer, then visit Oncare Cancer Center today! Book an appointment with our cancer specialists today! Get an estimated cost of your cancer treatments today!
Frequently Asked Questions
Like many cancer treatments, immunotherapy comes with many side effects that can affect the patient’s body.
These may include:
- Inflammation in the body
- Fatigue
- Itchy skin and rashes
- Diarrhea
- Nausea and vomiting
- Low thyroid hormone levels
Chemotherapy is an effective cancer treatment that often targets and destroys the fastest-growing cancer cells in the body. However, chemotherapy can also damage the healthy cells in the body, potentially leading to side effects of chemotherapy.
These may include:
- Anemia
- Hair loss
- Fatigue
- Infection
- Loss of appetite
- Nausea and vomiting
- Constipation
- Bleeding
Targeted therapy treatments side effects might vary from patient to patients. However, there are some common side effects which might include:
- Blood clotting
- Diarrhea
- Experiencing dry skin, rashes, and itchiness
- High blood pressure
- Loss of hair color
- Bleeding in the stomach and intestines
- Experiencing increased liver enzymes
- heart dysfunctions like arrhythmia and cardiotoxicity
Yes. In some cases of cancer, chemotherapy can be helpful, and the cancer growth is sensitive to being cured with treatments such as chemotherapy. However, there are many cancer survivors who became cancer-free with the help of chemotherapy treatments.