COMPLETE Guide For Chemotherapy Effects and It's Treatment

Chemotherapy and Radiation

There are various modes of treatment to cure you of cancer. Surgery, radiation and chemotherapy are the most commonly used methods to treating cancer. Radiation therapy and chemotherapy treatments are to help you relieve the pain due to cancer. The mode of treatment as well as side effects varies in both these methods of treatment.

Some salient features of both these methods of treatments:

Radiation Therapy: Radiation therapy is used to reduce the size of the tumor, as the tumor puts undue pressure on the nerves and other organs of the body that it comes in contact with. Radiation therapy helps to reduce the pain that is caused due to the spread of this abnormal division of cells in the bones, nerves, brain, spine and blood vessels.

Where do patients need to go for radiation therapy?

Radiation oncologist's specialists are the people who are qualified to give radiation therapy to cancer patients. Radio active substances are inserted into the body for some time, which destroys cancer cells that are present in the body. This inserting of radioactive substances in the body is known as implantation.

What are the side effects of radiation therapy?

Radiation therapy causes redness of the skin and some cancer patients who have undergone radiation have found to have skin irritation also. You need to discuss this problem of skin irritation with your radiologist so that proper skin care treatment can be done to sooth the irritated skin. As in all the other modes of treatments radiation therapy causes pain and patients have also complained off discomfort.

Chemotherapy: This is yet another mode of treatment that a cancer patient can undergo. Here the treatment given is not only to reduce the size of the tumor but also to prevent further tumors to rise in the body. Some of the pain killer drugs that are used while undergoing treatment for various kind of cancer are:

Gemzar- or gemcitabine this is used to treat and reduce the pain caused due to the advanced stage of pancreatic cancer.

Lupron- or leuprolide this drug is used to treat cancer of the pancreas.

Novantrone- or mitoxantrone basically is a combination of corticosteroids used to reduce the pain caused due to prostrate gland cancer.

Zoladex- or goserelin is a combination drug which is an acetate implant.

Samarium s-m 153 this drug is used to treat cancers of the bone.

Radiation and chemotherapy cause great suffering and pain to the patient.

Side effects of chemotherapy: Numbness and tingling pain in the fingers, hands and feet's as it has been found that there are certain chemotherapy drugs that affect the nervous system. Mouth sores, vomiting and nauseating feelings are some other side effects of chemotherapy. Anti-suffering drugs like Zofran and Kytril can be used to stop the nausea and vomiting.

The main difference between radiation therapy and chemotherapy is that in case of radiation use of radio isotopes are used while in case of chemotherapy combination of drugs or specialized drugs are used. Chemotherapy is a must for all types of cancer but radiation therapy cannot help treat all types of cancer.