How is cancer treated?

Today doctors distinguish between hundreds of cancer types, know where tumors are located, how and how they work, depending on the stage, which uses surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, targeted targets or multi-tissue combinations. awake for treatment.

Global cancer burden increases rapidly. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that in the next 20 years, the cancer burden will increase by 57% with 21.7 million people infected, 13 million will die of cancer. The main cause is the population growth, population aging, pollution of the living environment.

The fight against cancer still faces many challenges, but medicine today has made much progress in understanding the causes, ways of prevention, early detection and treatment.

Advances in determining illness

Endoscopic

A soft tube, the head with a small camera, is an endoscope that is inserted into the body's cavities and organs to allow the physician to see the area of ​​suspected damage. Today there are many types of endoscopy to see specific areas in the body and when a suspected biopsy is needed.

Supersonic

Ultrasound cannot accurately distinguish a benign and an aggressive tumor. Doctors often use ultrasound to locate the needle to biopsy to get a small tissue sample or suck a little fluid to see it on a microscope. Ultrasound is a very safe, harmless test, very cheap compared to CT and MRI.

Computerized tomography (CT scan)

CT shows the shape, size, volume and location of the cancer and can detect blood vessels to feed the tumor. In some cases, CT can help a doctor identify a benign tumor or a goiter. CT CT is particularly effective when used to detect and evaluate cancer located in the liver, pancreas, adrenal glands, lungs and bones. It is also used to know the cancers of the bowel, esophagus, stomach and brain, to help determine the period of cancer. Repeated CT testing helps to know how the cancer responds to treatment, as well as can detect recurrence.

Magnetic resonance (MRI)

Magnetic resonance can see any part of the body, particularly favorable for detecting and locating cancer of the central nervous system, head, neck and musculoskeletal system, which also helps doctors predict strategies. surgery or radiation therapy. MRI is more expensive than CT, but does not suffer from X-ray damage like the CT scan.

PET (Positron Emission Tomography)

Use a small dose of radioisotope sugar injected into the patient for color images of chemical changes in tissues. A scanner shows where the sugar is distributed, then creates an image. Cancer blocks are more active than normal tissues, which will appear unusually in PET images.

PET / CT combination. Two types of machines simultaneously provide a comprehensive picture of the location of the tumor, growth rate and spread more clearly than each type.

Diagnosis of pathology (pathology)

Physicians do not stop at determining the possibility of cancer. Must have the most accurate diagnosis thanks to a biopsy. A small tissue sample is taken by surgery and is observed on a microscope to look for cancer cells. A biopsy for the pathology results clearly determines the type of cancer. Treatment completely depends on this result.

Medicine changes life through molecular diagnosis

Recently molecular biology testing revealed gene disturbances (mutations) of several types of cancer cells such as lung, breast, colon . Molecular diagnosis is used to analyze biological stresses. Cancer can help physicians choose the best treatment for patients. A new trend in developing molecular diagnostics, for example, on biomarkers of cancer.

Modern treatments (targeted therapy)

Cancer treatments.

Surgery (surgery)

Most often used, the scalpel blade takes root. Proper surgery is the best treatment for many types of cancers that are localized and local. Today, the scalpel is more tender. Gradually, the doctors have less surgery. Many women can be breast-preserved by only removing breast tumors with postoperative radiotherapy. Cut the bones and tumors of the muscles in the limbs without having to cut the limbs. Avoid artificial anus when rectal cancer surgery.

Currently doctors coordinate smoothly with radiation, chemotherapy and new methods. Endoscopic surgery brings many miracles. Just make a few small incisions in the skin to look and manipulate in the abdomen, in the chest. Remove the tumors through the tubes to the intestine, esophagus or bladder. Devices using fiber optic technology and video recorders help doctors look inside the body. There is a new way to remove tumors such as using a laser to cut or burn cancer in the cervix, larynx, liver, rectum; High-frequency radio waves are transmitted to an antenna placed in a tumor to burn cancer cells.

Radiotherapy

Radiotherapy is using radiation to kill cancer cells. In the early 20th century, radioactive rays (X-rays, gamma rays) were used to destroy malignant tumors. Today the beams become more magical. External radiation therapy uses accelerators to shoot rays from outside the body. Radiation therapy uses machines to bring radioactive sources close to the tumor. Radiation therapy during the operation helps to bring strong radiation to the cancer.

Valence

Use circulating chemicals in the body to kill cancer cells floating in the bloodstream or spreading cancerous cancers. The doctor may use chemotherapy before surgery to shrink the tumor. Post-operative support chemotherapy travels throughout the body to kill fallen tissue after surgery. Advances with many new drugs, multiple drug combinations, safe and convenient drug delivery, and the right drugs for cancer cells have new endocrine drugs that help treat prostate and breast cancer.

Treatment (target targeted therapy)

Scientists have recently been able to identify cancer-causing, mutagenic or mutagenic genes. The right targeting method in which attack to regulate gene disorder is called targeted hit therapy. The drugs used are biologic drugs, so they belong to the treatment group. More and more new drugs.

Multidisciplinary therapy in combination with surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, targeted therapy .

There is no method to treat all types of cancer. One type of cancer often needs to combine multiple treatments. For example, breast cancer is operated properly, sometimes with radiotherapy or chemotherapy and targeted therapy.

Many achievements in treatment

Today doctors distinguish between a hundred types of cancer, know how the cancer progresses, where the tumor is located, large and small, also localized or spread to nearby tissue or spread far. Depending on the type, depending on the stage that doctors use surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy . Now the surgical knife is more gentle than just fit enough tumor, radiation beams are shot in the right place in the right place. Cancer spreads everywhere, there are more effective drugs throughout the body. The target drug targeted the repair of damaged genes.

Early detection of breast cancer, cervical cancer 90% good treatment, thyroid cancer nearly 95% cured . Even meeting late disease, knowing to take advantage of good methods also make people mild . Physicians are trustworthy, strong handsets, very modern radiotherapy machines, many new special treatment drugs. Seamlessly coordinating modern treatments that bring better efficacy to patients.

Survival rate of people with certain types of cancer after 5 years of disease detection.

Lung cancer is detected early in stage 1, good treatment results are about 60-70%, stage 2 is about 50% but the rate of patients detected early is very small, so the total number of good treatment is only about 15% .

Liver cancer is still localized, good treatment results about 30%, cancer spreads to the surrounding area, resulting in only 10%.

Stomach cancer stage 1 treatment results 50-70%. However, the early detection rate is still low, so the total number of well-treated people is only about 25%.

Colorectal cancer is easy to detect early. 40% of cancers remain localized with good treatment results of 90%, 30% of cancers spread to the surrounding area, 70% good results.

Especially prostate cancer, according to the American Cancer Society, good treatment results, generally for 5 years is nearly 100%, 10-15 years> 90%.

Cervical cancer and breast cancer, the results of treating patients are very exciting. Many people are treated well, surviving 5 years after their illness and some continue to live longer.