Cancer is one of the toughest diseases that mankind has to face. Millions of people are diagnosed every year with different types of cancer. However much the word shakes people, it's worth remembering that through newer and more targeted methods of chemotherapy and radiation therapy, cancer treatment has significantly improved ways to overcome such a riddled disease.
Whether newly diagnosed or supporting someone you love on this journey, understanding the different treatment routes is crucial. For patients in India, Dr. Amit Pandey is considered the best cancer specialist in Lucknow offering top-class and compassionate care. In this blog, we talk about the different cancer treatments present today, and why it's important to have an informed oncologist like Dr. Pandey leading your treatment.
Overview of Cancer Treatment Options:
There is no single-size-fits-all model of cancer treatment. The appropriate treatment depends upon a multitude of factors, including the type and stage of the cancer, the patient's general condition, and his or her own personal preferences. Essentially, cancer treatment options can be classified into a few major categories:
- Surgery
- Chemotherapy
- Radiation Therapy
- Targeted Therapy
- Immunotherapy
- Hormone Therapy
- Stem Cell Transplant
- Palliative Care
While all the treatment options possess their respective strengths and weaknesses, a combination of treatments can be applied in order to achieve higher levels of effectiveness. Let's discuss each one in detail.
Cancer Surgery Treatment
Surgery remains the first point of contact with cancer, especially when the tumor is localized and has not spread to other parts of the body. The goal of surgical intervention for cancer is to remove as much of the tumor as possible. While in some cases, surgery is curative, in others, it has to be followed up with treatments such as chemotherapy or radiation therapy to ensure all cancer cells are annihilated.
Types of Cancer Surgery
- Curative Surgery: it is performed, in case the disease has localized to only one place and completely removed.
- Debulking Surgery: in case of a tumor size that cannot be completely removed, it is performed in order to reduce the tumor, thus making it better for other forms of treatment.
- Palliative Surgery: this type of surgical intervention may be performed in the advanced stages of the disease with the aim of relieving some symptoms or improving quality of life rather than being curative.
Surgery is highly effective for most forms of cancer, including breast, colorectal, and lung cancers. However, when it comes to surgery, the stage of cancer and the general health of the patient must also be taken into consideration.
In Lucknow, Dr. Amit Pandey can counsel patients about whether surgery would be the appropriate course and ensure that treatment is well-coordinated so it meets the needs of each patient.
Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy, frequently referred to as "chemo," is the use of drugs to kill cancer cells that multiply rapidly. Because chemotherapy affects your whole body, not just a specific site, it may be useful for treating cancers that have spread to other parts of your body.
Chemotherapy and Cancer
Chemotherapy drugs attack the rapidly dividing cells. It is a hallmark of cancer cells. However, because chemo can affect other fast-dividing cells throughout the body (such as hair follicles, bone marrow, and digestive tract cells), it more frequently leads to unwanted side effects, including hair loss, fatigue, nausea, and a weakened immune system.
When is Chemotherapy Used?
Neoadjuvant chemotherapy: To shrink tumors so that the surgeon can find and remove them much more easily.
Adjuvant chemotherapy: used after surgery, to kill any remaining cancer cells and help prevent recurrence; given as primary treatment: for cancers that have spread extensively throughout the body and cannot be cured with surgery alone.
While chemotherapy remains a very effective treatment for cancer, it also has some of its side effects which make it carry its own set of problems. A wide and experienced oncologist who can understand and manage these toxic side effects would be best able to deliver a very potent yet tolerable regimen of chemotherapy-a doctor such as Dr. Amit Pandey, the best oncologist in Lucknow, would do just that.
Radiation Therapy
Radiation is the exposure of a high dosage of radiation to kill the tumor cells or shrink their size. It damages the DNA inside the cancerous cells, and thereby, they cannot proliferate and divide again. Similar to surgery, radiation is typically localized, that is applied to parts of the anatomy of the body.
Types of Radiation Therapy:
- External Beam Radiation Therapy (EBRT): This is the most common form of radiation therapy where the machine is positioned outside the body.
- Internal Radiation Therapy (Brachytherapy): Radioactive materials are placed inside the body close to the cancerous site.
When Is Radiation Therapy Used?
- As a solitary therapy: Especially for cancers very sensitive to radiation, such as some lymphomas, and prostate cancer.
- In combination with other forms of therapies: Often before surgery to shrink tumors or after surgery to destroy remaining cancer cells.
- For palliative care: To decrease symptoms, such as cancer pain from tumors compressing bones or nerves.
Side effects involving skin reactions, fatigue and tissue damage are widespread because radiation therapy is effective for most cancer types. One of the best oncologists in Lucknow, Dr. Amit Pandey, makes sure that there is minimal damage to the side effects when the tumour is knocked out through radiation therapy.
Targeted Therapy
Targeted therapy is a relatively new type of drug therapy that is designed to target cancer more specifically than other drugs, which usually are toxic to normal cells. Unlike chemotherapy, which kills all the rapidly dividing cells, targeted therapy attacks specific molecular alterations defining the cancer cell but absent or inactive in normal cells.
How Targeted Therapy Works
Cancer cells usually have specific proteins or mutations driving them to grow, making targeted therapies work by blocking proteins or inhibiting mutations, which in turn inhibit the growth of cancer and its spread.
Types of Targeted Therapy
- Monoclonal Antibodies: These drugs specifically look for the specific antigens on cancer cells, marking them for the immune system to attack and destroy.
- Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors (TKIs): These block signals that are responsible for cancer cell growth.
- Anti-Angiogenic Agent Inhibitors: These block the development of new blood vessels that a tumor needs to grow.
When Is Targeted Treatment Used?
Targeted therapy is most effective against cancers caused by known genetic mutations. Some examples are different types of breast, lung, and colorectal cancer. Genetic testing is sometimes done to determine if a patient could be considered for this type of treatment.
Dr. Amit Pandey is one of the best oncologist doctors in Lucknow and a strong proponent for targeted therapies, though until recent times, targeted therapies were available majorly for cancers that do not respond well to chemotherapy and other traditional treatments.
Immunotherapy
Immunotherapy represents a radical approach to the treatment of cancer where the ability of immunity to fight cancer is taken advantage of. Under normal circumstances, the immunity system does not recognize cancer cells as harmful. Immunotherapy makes it possible for the immune system to identify these abnormal cells and destroy them.
How Immunotherapy Works
- Checkpoint inhibitors: medications that stop immune cells from attacking cancer cells by blocking certain proteins.
- CAR-T Cell Therapy: It is advanced immunotherapy. In this, T cells found in a patient are modified. These T cells then recognize and destroy cancer cells.
- Cytokines: These are proteins that enhance the power of an immune system to destroy cancer cells.
When is Immunotherapy used?
It is very effective for certain kinds of cancers, such as melanoma, lung cancer, and certain types of blood cancers. Immunotherapy is one of the last hopes when other treatments have failed to provide a response, opening new doors of hope for patients struggling with cancer.
Dr. Amit Pandey, one of the most renowned oncologists in Lucknow, is very well-versed in immunotherapy and frequently includes this novel treatment as part of his practice.
Hormone Therapy
It is primarily used for cancers that are dependent on hormones, including hormone-dependent breast and prostate cancer-feeding cancers that exist due to either estrogen or testosterone.
How Hormone Therapy Is Given
Hormone therapy reduces the levels of these hormones in your body or blocks their action on cancer cells.
Hormone therapy is primarily used for hormone-sensitive cancers, meaning it is growth-related and requires hormones. It can be combined with surgery, chemotherapy, or radiation to get a greater effect.
Dr. Amit Pandey has customized therapies for hormone therapy in Lucknow, and the treatment can be well accommodated in the whole course of treatment.
Stem Cell Transplant
Stem cell transplants, also known as bone marrow transplants, restore the ability of a body to produce healthy blood cells when cancer is treated with high-dose chemotherapy or radiation.
When Is Stem Cell Transplant Given?
- For blood cancers: leukemia, lymphoma, and multiple myeloma.
- Follows high-dose chemotherapy: To replace blood-forming cells killed.
Stem cell transplants are a complicated procedure, but it may be life-saving for those patients suffering from blood cancer. Dr. Amit Pandey, one of the best medical oncologist doctors in Lucknow, takes care of patients' needs with respect to this procedure and renders them expert medical care with every step along the way.
Palliative Care
Palliative care is specialized care for relief from symptoms and stress of especially in advanced stages. Though not treatment for the disease itself, it indeed helps to improve the quality of life of patients and their loved ones.
When Should Palliative Care Be Used?
It can be started from the very beginning of the disease simultaneously with curative interventions or when the cancer is non-responsive to treatment.
Well-equipped to give patients a whole approach on both physical and emotional levels, Dr. Amit Pandey is one of the most compassionate cancer doctor in Lucknow.
Why Dr. Amit Pandey is the Best Cancer Specialist in Lucknow:
The right oncologist can make all the difference when you receive a cancer diagnosis. The best cancer specialist in Lucknow, Dr. Amit Pandey, treats patients in a patient-friendly manner. He has expertise backed by experience and compassion, winning him the trust and admiration of numerous patients.
What Makes Dr. Pandey Unique:
- Comprehensive care: Dr. Pandey takes care of a cancer patient right from the time of diagnosis, then to treatment and follow-up.
- Personalized treatment plans: He ensures that every patient's treatment remains his specialty, with the latest advancements in cancer care.
- Cutting-edge treatments: Dr. Pandey keeps himself updated on the very latest in chemotherapy, immunotherapy, targeted therapy, and more to provide the best possible care.
This is because, during this very challenging time, the patients and their families are able to make the best decisions concerning the different alternatives of cancer treatment. As a matter of fact, the presence of Dr. Amit Pandey, the best cancer specialist in Lucknow, will give patients the strength to face cancer with utmost confidence.
FAQs
Q.1 - What is the most common cancer treatment?
Ans. - Chemotherapy is one of the most commonly used cancer treatments, in conjunction with surgery and radiation.
Q.2 - How does Dr. Amit Pandey manage side effects caused by the treatment?
Ans. - Dr. Pandey provides individualized care to deal with side effects, including medications, nutrition tips, and emotional support.
Q.3 - Can immunotherapy be used to treat cancer in a way that could cure it?
Ans. - Immunotherapy has successfully cured some cancers, especially when other treatments have failed. The medical literature, however, shows it does not work equally well on all cancer types and stages vary greatly.
Q.4 - What types of cancer does Dr. Amit Pandey treat?
Ans. - Dr. Pandey treats a range of cancers: breast, lung, prostate, and cancers of the blood such as leukemia and lymphoma.
Q.5 - Is Radiation Therapy Painful?
Ans. - It is painless in itself, but it can cause side effects like fatigue or irritation of the skin.
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