Treatments+for+Cancer+JM

media type="file" key="janie.mov"

__**Treatment of cancer**__

Three standard treatments of cancer
 * surgery
 * radiation therapy
 * chemotherapy.

__**Surgery**__ Surgery is used in many cases to get ride of cancer but it is not the most effective because there is a chance that cancer cells will be left behind. Surgery is not an option for everyone, only if the cancer is in the form of a malignant tumor can the cancer successfully be cut out. in some cases even if the cancer is in a malignant tumor, the procedure can not be done because it could cause extreme damage to vital organs.

__**Radiation Therapy**__ Radiation is used on patients where the cancer cells have no spread over the entire body. During radiation therapy, x rays are used to implant tiny radioactive sources into the patient’s body. Some cases of cancers can be treated with radiation therapy only and the short-term side effects are generally mild, such as irritated skin at the treatment site, fatigue, hair loss or weakness. There is no pain during radiation therapy and sometimes is the only type of treatment needed to help cancer. If a patient does surgery and radiation therapy, a lot of the time the cancer can be completely removed.

__**Chemotherapy**__ Chemotherapy is a way to catch cancer cells that have been spread throughout the entire body. It is better than radiation in a way because it treats the entire body instead of one of the body like radiation. The main goal of chemotherapy is to kill any cancer cells by damaging their DNA that allows them to function. Along with chemotherapy, the patient would have to take some type of medication. Chemotherapy can sometimes fail because the cancer cells can grow resistant to the medication the patient is taking and grow stronger. the side effects to chemotherapy are severe and that is why a lot of people choose not to try it. Many people choose to do surgery instead of chemotherapy, but then in the end will end up doing chemotherapy to make sure all of the cancer cells are killed.

Since there are different choices for treating cancer, how would someone choose what treatment to go through with. Each treatment has pros and cons. It all depends on what type of cancer a patient has and how severe it is. A team of doctors will run test to see if the cancer has spread to see if yo can even go through with surgery. If indeed the cancer has spread then surgery is out of the question and the options are lowered. Also the doctors take into consideration if the cancer is in one area of the body or if it is in multiple places. if it is in multiple places then the patient will probably do chemotherapy because that treats the entire body instead of a specific area of the body like radiation. Another way doctors figure out which treatment would be best for the patient is by personal input from the patient. In the end the patient has the final word on what treatment they choose, the doctors are there to choose the best way that would help the patient the most.
 * __What treatment is right for you?__**

//Information for this page was taken from the Human Biology book and http://familydoctor.org//