Various treatment regimens for cancer include chemotherapy,
radiation (x-ray) therapy, and surgery, as well as radiofrequency ablation.
Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy is the administration of drugs that have a variety of
activities, mostly directed toward rapidly dividing cells (which in general
is what cancer is), and interferes with the cells’ ability to reproduce.
Chemotherapy is typically given systemically, which means it is administered
through a vein so that it goes everywhere in the body; thus it affects not
just cancer cells but also normal cells in the body, which is why there are
side effects. In some instances, chemotherapy can be delivered in a more
focal manner, attempting to place the chemicals just into the cancerous
organ, but that is somewhat uncommon. The vast majority is given by
intravenous administration and treats not just the primary tumor but, because
it is systemic body-wide, it treats (theoretically) the spread of the tumor
to other tissues. Because chemotherapy attacks rapidly dividing cells,
normal cells that grow quickly are also harmed. Hair, bone marrow, and the
cells lining the intestinal tract divide rapidly. That is why chemotherapy
patients' hair falls out. Also, bone marrow is suppressed and cannot make
new blood, so chemotherapy patients get sick easily. The lining of the gut
is sloughed away, which causes patients to be nauseous and not want to eat
and also prevents the body from efficiently absorbing food that is consumed.
Radiation Therapy
X-ray therapy is the use of very high energy, or high potency radiation,
usually from an external source that is beamed into the body in a focused
area, so that it is limited in what parts of the body it affects. The idea
again is to damage the tumor tissue, but there is always normal tissue around
it that will be injured as well, and that’s why you get some side effects.
Surgery
Surgery is one of the other classic ways to deal with cancer, and it is
basically an attempt to cut out the cancer and remove it from the body. The
problem with surgery is that there is a limit to how much you can cut out and
to what you can cut out; you can’t cut out something you need to live (for
instance, you obviously can not just cut out someone’s heart). Surgery only
takes care of the area you specifically address and does not take care of
metastases (cancer that has spread to other tissues).
Radiofrequency Ablation (RFA)
Probe with array of wires deployed
RFA is a more focused, less invasive method of killing the specific volume
of tissue that you want to ablate. Radiofrequency ablation is a similar
concept to surgery, in that you treat the tumor locally (only in a certain
area). Instead of actually cutting out the tumor, you insert a probe into
the tumor and heat the tissue to the point where the cells can not survive
and they die. Unlike in surgery, after radiofrequency ablation the dead
cells are left in the body and are either reabsorbed or turn into liquid.
Radiofrequency ablation is considered less traumatic than surgery because the
patient does not have to have as large of an incision, not as much anesthesia
is involved, and post-operative recovery is easier. Additionally,
radiofrequency ablation does not affect the gastrointestinal (GI) tract and
the bone marrow in the same way that systemic chemotherapy does.
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