brain cancer

brain cancer treatment

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A cancer is a tumor, but not all tumors are cancer. Those that are not cancerous  are called benign, and these may appear in the brain. If these benign tumors aren’t  causing brain function problems and aren’t growing, treatment is not necessary. For tumors in the brain that are not benign, but are malignant, and so, growing, brain cancer treatment is required, that is, if the cancer is not beyond treatment, or in a part of the brain that is inaccessible and not receptive to non-invasive treatments.

Brain cancer is determined by an MRI scan and a biopsy. If the tumor is determined to be malignant, treatment, if possible, will be undertaken. Brain cancer treatment might be surgery, radiation, or chemotherapy. Surgeryn as a brain cancer treatment, is the first choice of treatment. A surgeon will remove – resection – the tumor. This is no easy task, because the brain is a most delicate organ with no redundancies. Every part of the brain is required. You cannot take some healthy part of the brain in the resection process without affecting a brain function. The location of the tumor determines the difficulty. If the brain has to suffer some damage for the surgeon to get to the tumor, some brain function will be adversely affected. Locating and navigating to the tumor is the trick of the brain cancer treatment. In past years, there wasn’t much success, but with recent improvements in electronic imaging and computer aided brain navigation, success in getting to the tumor and removing it, with little or no damage to the brain, is greater.

Brain surgery still remains a risky brain cancer treatment, and it rarely constitutes a cure. It does go far to relieve brain cancer symptoms and improves the quality of the stricken patient’s life.

Radiation as a brain cancer treatment has also improved in recent years, thanks to advanced computer technology. It is an excellent supplement to surgery, especially if the tumor reappears after removal. The side-effects, such as loss of memory, loss of hair, body weakness, makes it a secondary treatment rather than primary, as surgery is. Some argue that it may not be highly effective in increasing survival and should not be the primary treatment over surgery.

When surgery is not feasible, as it is not for tumors that span both hemispheres of the brain, radiation therapy is the next best option. Radiation is applied in beams of radiation, with as many as 200 beams aimed at the tumor. Advanced imaging aids in aiming and navigating to the tumor. Precision is everything in radiation treatment, but again, computer and imaging technology has radically increased precision, so that the treatment is having higher degrees of success than in years past.

Chemotherapy, the last brain cancer treatment discussed here, has not been, until recently, a feasible option. This is because there is a physical barrier between the brain and its blood supply. With the invention of a drug named Temodar(R), an orally administered pill, the status of chemotherapy for brain cancer has changed. TemodarR) is able to get through the brain-blood barrier, to the tumor, where it then breaks down the tumor’s DNA, killing off the tumor. Its side effects are tolerable: nausea, headaches, and bodily weakness. This drug is effective against highly aggressive tumors and is showing a promising success rate.

The only other drug effective as a brain cancer treatment is called the gliadel wafer. It kills cancerous cells, but it must be inserted in the brain after the tumor has been removed by surgery. It melts over several weeks, and washes over those cancer cells the surgery did not evict.

New chemotherapy techniques are being adopted to introduce drugs directly into the brain using a catheter. The drug, Avastin(R), is also showing promise as a brain cancer treatment. It prevents blood vessels from growing into the tumor and is not hampered by the brain-blood barrier.
These three types of treatments may be used alone or in combination, the latter being the most typical. Experimentation is underway on other treatments, but, because brain cancer is relatively rare, funding is sparse.

Brain cancer is a frightening prospect, but man is up to the task of defeating this most difficult of cancers to treat. Brain cancer treatments can curtail and even cure the stricken, and improve the quality of life.  That we have any treatment at all is a testimony to the greatness of science and the indomitable spirit of man

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cancer of the kidneys

treatment of kidney cancer

Image by prep4md via Flickr

Kidney cancer treatment is used when cancer has formed in the tissues of the kidney. This includes cancer that develops in the lining of the tiny tubes in the kidney responsible for filtering blood and removing waste products. It is called renal cell carcinoma. This cancer will also develop in the middle of the kidney where urine collects and is called renal pelvis carcinoma. Also included is Wilms tumor. This is a form of kidney cancer that usually attacks children under 5 years old.
There are many different options when it comes to kidney cancer treatment. These will be discussed with you by your doctor and treatment team. Some factors that will be taken into consideration are your overall health, what type of kidney cancer you have, whether or not it has spread, and what type of treatment you would prefer. The choices will be narrowed down to the following:

* Nephrectomy which is the removal of the affected kidney.

* Nephron- sparing surgery which means that the tumor will be removed from the kidney.

* Embolization which is the procedure of blocking the flow of blood to the tumor.
* Cryoablation which is the kidney cancer treatment involving freezing the cancer cells.

* When surgery cannot remove the entire tumor, it can still be done to remove as much of the tumor as possible.

* Biological therapy where drugs targeted at using the immune system to fight the cancer are administered. These have some pretty serious side effects.

* Targeted therapy or treatment that targets particular portions of the cancer.

* Clinical trials are closely monitored group studies that introduce the cancer to a new treatment. These may or may not work, depending on how evolved the treatment is.

If you begin to show symptoms that make you suspect you may have kidney cancer, see your doctor immediately. Kidney cancer treatment will be much more effective if it is detected in the early stages. This is true of most cancers and it makes sense that when something is caught in the beginning it is easier to stop it.

How fast you are able to be diagnosed will make all the difference in the world as to what sort of treatment you end up needing. You and your doctor will need to talk about the best options for treatment as the patient needs to be as involved in this as possible.

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