Chemotherapy Treatment
Traditional or standard chemotherapy is one of the best ways to treat many cancers. Chemotherapy, or chemo, is considered a systemic treatment because the drugs travel throughout the body, killing cancer cells that have spread, or metastasized, to parts of the body far away from the original tumor.
Chemotherapy is usually used to cure or control cancer, but also may be used as part of a palliative plan. If chemo cures cancer, that means it destroys all of the cancer cells present; the cancer cells have gone away. Sometimes chemo can shrink tumors or stop it from spreading but doesn’t destroy all of the cancer cells present. In this way, the cancer is controlled, helping the patient feel better and live longer.
Other times, when the cancer is considered advanced, chemo can be used to help ease symptoms caused by the cancer. In this instance, it is part of palliative care.
What to Expect During Chemotherapy
It is normal to feel worried or overwhelmed when you find out that you need chemotherapy. Please watch our video regarding “What to Expect During Chemotherapy” because every person experiences chemotherapy differently, both physically and emotionally, and chemotherapy drugs vary in their side effects. We offer many types of therapies and medications to help handle side effects that you may experience from chemotherapy. Please let us know how you are feeling throughout your chemotherapy cycle, so that we can address your concerns and help make you more comfortable.
Before Starting Chemotherapy
- If time permits, have your teeth cleaned before rather than during chemotherapy. If you need major dental work, try to postpone it until after chemotherapy. If you need your teeth cleaned while receiving chemotherapy, please let your doctor or nurse know beforehand.
- Some medicines may cause problems if taken with your chemotherapy. Tell your doctor what medicines/pills you are taking, including: over-the-counter medicines, vitamins, herbs and other medicines prescribed by any of your doctors.
- You will receive information about each chemotherapy drug you are given.
- You may have blood drawn before your treatment.
- Treatment may make it harder for your body to fight infections. Wash your hands often and avoid people who are sick.
- You should drink 8 to 10 eight-ounce glasses of non-caffeinated fluid each day throughout your treatment. It is important for you to keep hydrated while you are receiving chemotherapy. However, if you have been told to limit fluids, check with your doctor about how much you can drink.
- Chemotherapy drugs can cause nausea. You will be given a prescription for medicine to take to help prevent nausea and vomiting. Eating a number of small meals during the day may help reduce nausea.
- Females should not get pregnant and should use a barrier method of birth control while receiving chemotherapy.
- Males receiving chemotherapy should use a barrier method of birth control (condom) when having sex.
- If you are of child bearing age, talk to your doctor before getting chemotherapy if you are planning to have children in the future.
Immunotherapy Treatment
Since 2010, new immunotherapy treatments have changed the direction of cancer care. Immunotherapy is a treatment that uses a person's own immune system to fight cancer. It can boost or change how the immune system works so it can find and attack cancer cells. Immunotherapy is different than chemotherapy.
Some immunotherapy drugs help the immune system work harder so it can find cancer cells and stop them from growing and spreading. Other types can change how the immune system works so it attacks cancer cells better.
Because each person’s treatment is different, how often it is given and how long it lasts can be different, too. Treatment might be given every day for a few days or might be given once a week or once a month. Some types of immunotherapy are given for a period of time, followed by a period of rest so the body can recover from side effects before the next treatment is due.
Some side effects are common with all types of immunotherapy, and side effects can occur at any time during or after treatment.
Radiation Oncology Treatment
Radiation therapy (also called radiotherapy) is a cancer treatment that uses high doses of radiation to kill cancer cells and shrink tumors. Radiation has the ability to kill cancer cells as well as regular cells, so the goal of this therapy is to maximize the radiation dose to the cancer cells and minimize the dose to the healthy cells. Radiation therapy also can be used to reduce symptoms from cancer.
Traditionally, radiation therapy has been given over a long period of time in small doses. This process lacked some accuracy. Recent developments in radiation therapy allow us to moderate critical dosages to healthy areas and increase doses to cancer cells.
Types of Radiation
There are two main types of radiation, external beam and internal. The type of radiation therapy that you may have depends on many factors, including:
- Type of cancer
- Size and location of the tumor
- Proximity of the tumor to normal tissues that are sensitive to radiation
- General health and medical history
- Other factors, such as your age and other medical conditions
External Beam
External beam radiation therapy, as its name suggests, has a radiation source from outside the body. It comes from a machine that aims radiation at the cancer. The machine does not touch you, but can move around you, sending radiation to a part of your body from many directions. This type of radiation treats a specific part of the body.
There are many types of external beam radiation therapy, all of which share the goal of delivering the highest prescribed dose of radiation to the tumor while sparing the normal tissue around it. Each type relies on a computer to analyze images of the tumor in order to calculate the most precise dose and treatment path possible.
Types of external beam radiation therapy include:
- 3D conformal radiation therapy
- Intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT)
- Image-guided radiation therapy (IGRT)
- Stereotactic radiosurgery
- Stereotactic body radiation therapy
The Varian® Edge® Radiosurgery System
Summa Health’s newest external beam radiosurgery system is the Varian Edge that offers a new line of defense in the fight against cancer. It may be used to treat tumors found in the lung, prostate, brain, spine and other areas that are typically difficult to reach with traditional surgery.
Using advanced cancer treatment technology, the Edge system offers patients a fast, effective option for treating tumors without incisions or the need for overnight hospital stays. The Edge system works by delivering large, targeted doses of radiation to obliterate cancer cells. To accurately deliver the recommended amount of radiation, the beam treats each part of the tumor from many different angles.
Using precise beam sculpting and a real-time tracking system, clinicians are able to deliver high radiation doses to destroy the tumor while minimizing exposure to surrounding healthy tissue.
Normally an outpatient procedure, Edge treatments are typically completed within the same week taking only one to five sessions. Each session lasts less than an hour, which helps patients quickly get in and out of treatment, reducing the number of treatment appointments and allowing them to resume their lives.
Internal
Internal radiation therapy is a treatment in which a source of radiation is put inside your body. The radiation source can be solid or liquid.
One example of a solid source is called brachytherapy. In this type of treatment, seeds, ribbons or capsules that contain a radiation source are placed in your body, in or near the tumor. Brachytherapy also is a local treatment.
Internal radiation therapy of a liquid source is called systemic therapy. Systemic means that the treatment travels in the blood to tissues throughout your body, seeking out and killing cancer cells.
Surgical Treatment
Surgery is the oldest type of cancer treatment, and in many cases, still works well today to treat many types of cancer. There are numerous types of surgeries that can be used as part of cancer care.
- Diagnosis: This type of surgery is usually referred to as a biopsy. There are many types of biopsies. Sometimes a sample of tissue is taken, and other times the entire tumor is removed to look at under a microscope and determine if disease is present. This type of surgery is often the first step in a patient’s journey.
- Staging: Staging surgery is done to determine how large a tumor is, if it has spread and where it has spread to in the body.
- Removal of tumor: This surgery removes the tumor and usually some of the tissue surrounding it.
- Reconstructive surgery: This surgery can help with the effects of cancer treatment. Sometimes, it is done at the same time the tumor is removed, or a patient may wait until they have healed or had other treatments.
- Debulking: Sometimes a surgeon is unable to remove all of a tumor and uses this procedure to remove as much of the tumor as possible.
- Palliative surgery: Many times, a tumor can cause painful or disturbing side effects. This surgery relieves these side effects and improves a patient’s quality of life.
- Prevention: Some patients choose to have surgery to reduce their risk of developing a specific cancer, such as colon polyps that can turn into colon cancer or gene mutations or family history tied to an elevated risk of breast cancer.