If you hear word "cancer/tumor", you should know the following medical knowledge.
Cancer is a scary word Some people even "talk about cancer" but what is cancer? What are characteristics of cancer? How to Treat and Cure Cancer? Wait for a series of questions, do you know them all? Abnormal growth (abnormal differentiation) of cells leading to cancer
How to check for a tumor
If you hear term "abnormal differentiation", your doctor will probably talk about many things, from colon polyps to colon cancer. Abnormal growths can be benign (eg, polyps, not cancer) or malignant (eg, colon cancer, which is a tumor, cancer), which means presence of cancer/tumor cells.
Please note that tumors are also divided into benign and malignant, for example, meningioma and stromal tumor are benign tumors (of course, they have possibility of malignant transformation), melanoma and lymphoma are malignant tumors, lung cancer, liver cancer, colon cancer Cancer, of course, is also a malignant tumor.
How to check for a tumor
1. Tumor markers
If you suspect that you have a certain type of tumor, your doctor may order a blood test for so-called biomarkers or tumor markers. They are usually produced by cancer cells. An increase in level of a certain marker may indicate growth of certain types of tumors in body, such as most common CEA, NSE, CA125, CA199, etc. These markers have a certain direction.
2. Auxiliary check
This general term refers to several ways in which certain organs and structures of your body are "photographed" for examination. The most common are ultrasound, radiography (called filming), CT, MRI, PET-CT, etc. These examination methods have a high degree of detection of lesions in specific areas of body.
3. Biopsy (called a biopsy)
When a lesion is detected by various examination methods, results of an ancillary examination may provide some clues about nature of lesion, such as benign or malignant, type of lesion. is, etc. However, nature of lesion itself must ultimately be determined by biopsy, which is equivalent to a "judgment".
4. Stage
Tumor/cancer staging is important because it is closely related to treatment options for lesion. If lesion is at an early stage, surgical resection may be first choice with good outcome, good prognosis, and low recurrence rate; but if lesion has reached middle and late stages or there were metastases in nearby lymph nodes. , or even metastases to distant organs (for example, liver cancer metastasizes to lungs, breast cancer metastasizes to bones, etc.), then patient may lose option of surgery and may take other treatments (such as radiation therapy and chemotherapy, etc.).
If a tumor or cancer is diagnosed, what are treatments?Of course, treatment plan is determined based on complex factors such as nature of lesion itself, presence of metastases, and patient's own health.
1. Surgical resection
When a lesion is found, if it is a tumor or cancer, surgical resection is a good choice (note: actual choice depends on situation, this is just a treatment), especially for benign tumors, prognosis after resection is still very good Yes, such as gastrointestinal stromal tumors, subcutaneous lipomas and sclerosing hemangiomas in lungs; if it is a malignant tumor, if it is at an early stage and has no metastases, effect of surgical resection is also very good, such as early lung cancer (lobar lung resection), breast cancer (radical mastectomy), etc., can achieve good results.
2. Radiotherapy
This common treatment uses radioactive energy, such as x-rays and gamma rays, to kill or stop growth of cancer cells. Some tumors are very sensitive to radiation, such as nasopharyngeal cancer, small cell lung cancer, and radiation therapy. The effect and prognosis of nasopharyngeal cancer is very good, and 5-year and 10-year survival after radiotherapy is very high.
3. Chemotherapy
You may have heard of this cancer treatment, which uses strong drugs - a combination of one or more (chemotherapeutic) drugs - to stop growth of cancer cells, which are injected into body through a needle to reach affected area. The process of creating an effect. (Chemotherapy is hard!)
Optional: Chemoradiotherapy is an adjunctive treatment for many types of tumors/cancers after surgery to kill tumor cells remaining in body, but they all have some side effects, such as radiation therapy can kill lesion. normal tissue cells, such as nasopharyngeal carcinoma, can cause burns to skin and lungs (radiation pneumonitis). The side effects of chemotherapy are familiar to everyone, such as malignancy, vomiting, loss of appetite, hair loss, and leukopenia (too low levels will lead to decreased resistance, tendency to to various infections) and so on.
4. Angiogenesis inhibitor
Cancer needs a blood supply to grow and spread. These specially designed drugs prevent formation of new blood vessels and delivery of blood to tumor. These drugs may not kill tumor, but they can stop cancer from spreading to other parts of body.
5. Biological therapy
A method of treatment using products of biological origin, such as human or animal cells or microorganisms. Some types attack specific cancer cells. Biological therapies include immunotherapy, gene therapy, and specific targeted therapy.
6. Hormone therapy
Some types of cancer, such as breast or prostate cancer, require certain hormones to grow. This treatment may block these hormones or change how they work in your body. It can slow or stop spread of cancer, relieve your symptoms, or help prevent cancer from coming back. It is often used with other treatments.
7. Monoclonal antibody
These drugs use your immune system to fight cancer. They bind to surface of cancer cells or certain cells in immune system so your body can better find and stop cancer. They can also help radiation and chemotherapy target cancer cells and avoid healthy cells.
8. Palliative care
This is a support and comfort system whose main purpose is to improve your quality of life, because at this time, tumor / cancer cells may reach a stage where they cannot be treated or controlled, or patient himself may no longer tolerate what he is taking. When there is no other choice but to refuse treatment, palliative care can only be taken at this time in an attempt to make patient less painful and uncomfortable.
Finally, best way to treat a tumor/cancer is prevention! Prevention isn't that hard, is it?
This article is a scientific popularization of knowledge about health, I hope you like it or comment below the comments! If there are any bugs or areas that need improvement, please point it out and criticize! Thank you!
If you hear word "cancer/tumor", you should know the following medical knowledge.
Spread the word, how much do you know about brain cancer/tumor medical knowledge?
What do you know about medical guidelines for treating kidney cancer?
What do you know about the medical knowledge of ankylosing spondylitis?
Spread word that you know about 9 reasons for increase in incidence of lung cancer?
Popular Science Medical Knowledge: Etiology, Diagnosis, Staging, Treatment, and Prognosis of Endometrial Cancer
What to do if you have depression The following exercises can help relieve symptoms
What are "pulmonary nodules"? Is it a benign lung tumor? Or lung cancer?
"Pancreatic cancer" - Jobs died of this tumor, degree of malignancy is too high
Spread word, small "objects" have a big effect and tell you 8 little knowledge about daily care.