5 Conventional Adenocarcinoma Cancer Treatments
Adenocarcinoma is a cancer that develops from glandular tissue. While most prevalent in the lungs, adenocarcinoma can originate in the prostate, colon and other major organs. While there many experimental and integrative treatments available, below are five conventional treatments often used in conjunction to battle adenocarcinoma as well as other types of cancer.
1.Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy uses pharmaceuticals to destroy and prevent the development of cancer cells. It can be delivered through the vein, body cavity or orally. Due to the fact that chemotherapy kills many healthy cells along with cancel cells, it causes many side effects from illness and hair loss to serious blood disorders like low blood cell counts. For this reason patients are often cycled on and off of chemotherapy. It is also combined with other treatments to maximize results and minimize negative effects.
2.Radiation Therapy
Often combined with Chemotherapy, radiation therapy uses powerful energy, ionized radiation, to decrease tumor size and relieve some side effects. It is often used when there is a high threat that the malignant tumor will spread to other parts of the body. Radiation beams are angled to provide optimal treatment to specific areas.
3.Surgical Oncology
For many types of adenocarcinomas, surgery is the best method of treatment. While doctors try to keep patients surgery to a minimum, it is often safer and more effective than other types of non-invasive therapies. Some surgeries involve removing the tumopr while others are diagnostic and reconstructive. Surgical Oncology is the also the oldest treatment for tumors.
4.Hormone Therapy
Hormone therapy involves adding or removing hormones to destroy and prevent the spread of adenocarcinoma. It is often used with high success on prostate cancer in men and breast cancer in women. In breast cancer, for example, will be given treatments that block the body’s production of estrogen and progesterone.
5.Immunotherapy
Since chemotherapy and radiation seriously weaken the body’s immune system, immunotherapy is used to repair the body’s immune system to manage the negative side-effects of other treatments. Immune effector cells defend the body against the spread of cancer by destroying tumor cells. These cells also help to alleviate some of the discomfort that adenocarcinoma patients experience daily. This is often used against adenocarcinoma located in the lungs
While there are many other conventional and experimental treatments for adenocarcinoma, they all involve boosting your body’s immune system and destroying tumors. Each treatment has its own pros and cons and ultimately patients respond best to a mixture of these treatments. Of course your doctor should go over all the treatment options that will work best for your particular situation. This depends on various factors such as the location of the cancer, the stage of the cancer (and if it is spreading) and the patient’s overall health and age.
For more information on adenocarcinoma cancer click here.
The information supplied in this article is not to be considered as medical advice and is for educational purposes only.
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18 Feb 2011