Popular Science: Common Strategies of Cancer Treatment

Cancer, killing millions of people every year, is one of the greatest health challenges for mankind. On the way to conquer cancer, humans have tried direct surgical resection, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy. Various types of immunotherapies brought about by novel technologies have also shown new hope to cancer patients. This article will explain common methods of cancer treatment, including their applications, advantages and disadvantages.

Surgery

Surgery has been used for the longest time in the field of cancer treatment, with the largest group of doctors. This treatment method is similar to that of the army. It usually fights face-to-face with the enemy. However, due to the limited visual range of the human eye and the complicated internal organ environment, the tumor volume is required to be as small as possible to implement tumor surgery. The importance of surgery in the field of cancer treatment is gradually declining.

Not all cancer patients are suitable for surgery. Most solid tumors can be treated with surgery. It has certain risks, for example, after lobectomy, lung cancer patients may suffer respiratory dysfunction.

Radiotherapy

Radiotherapy equipment if of the highest cost and the fastest technological progress. Its treatment method is similar to that of a rocket force. It selects the number and type of missiles according to the enemy's size and range of their activities, and then conducts high-precision strikes. The main advantage of radiotherapy is that it can not only target a single lesion, but also attack multiple lesions at the same time. Radiotherapy is favored by more and more patients due to the advantages of good tolerance on patients, few side effects, and significant therapeutic effects.

Radiotherapy is mainly aimed at the radical treatment of solid tumors, such as nasopharyngeal carcinoma, head and neck tumors and so on. For other tumors, radiotherapy is mostly used as one of the combination therapies. The toxic and side effects of radiotherapy are mainly local reactions, for example, in treating head and neck cancer, it may lead to sore throat, radiation fibrosis syndrome, and decreased taste function.

Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy has the widest application range. Its treatment method is similar to that of biological weapons, using chemical drugs to attack tumors throughout the body. At the same time, normal cells in the body will also be affected to a certain extent.

Cancer patients treated by chemotherapy usually suffer advanced cancers with multiple metastases throughout the body. It is for tumors that are more sensitive to chemotherapy drugs, such as blood cancers and genital tumors. The effect of chemotherapy depends on the type and condition of the tumor, some can be cured, and some can be inhibited from growth and spread. The main toxic and side effects are systemic reactions, such as gastrointestinal reactions.

Immunotherapy

The principle of immunotherapy is very different from traditional treatment. It is to improve the body's immunity through some methods, and rely on the body's immunity to control or eliminate tumors. Targeted antibodies, adoptive cell therapy, oncolytic virus therapy, cancer vaccines, immunomodulatory, etc. are all hot research directions of immunotherapy. At present, this method has become the fourth largest tumor treatment therapy, and it is also the most popular tumor treatment method.

Immunotherapy has been approved for the treatment of a variety of cancers, the earliest being melanoma, kidney cancer, and sarcoma, and now it can be applied to many solid tumors. But it also has side effects. For example, some therapies accelerate the normal work of immune system, which may cause flu symptoms, or even attack healthy organs and systems.

Immunotherapy is not the end of the story about cancer treatment. On the contrary, it just opened a new chapter in cancer treatment. As humans' understanding of tumors becomes deeper and deeper, tumors are no longer so horrific as a chronic disease that can never be cured.

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