Approach for Cancer Care - Essay Example

? Approach for Cancer Care Cancer is a condition, which occurs when body cells undergo uncontrolled multiplication. There are two types of cancers benign cancer and malignant cancer. Benign cancers are harmless cancers that do not affect the health of an individual. Benign cancers do not multiple uncontrollably. Malignant cancers are harmful tumors and can lead to death if not treated early. Cancers result when the body cells divide uncontrollably or when the cells do not die as required. Since cells are building blocks of the body occurrence of cancers leads to overgrowth of cells resulting to tumors. There are various causes of cancers, which include radiation, environmental toxins such as aflatoxins, viruses, excessive alcohol consumption, chemicals such as benzene, excessive exposure to sunlight and genetic abnormalities (Wen, Schiff, & Quant, 2012). Cancers can develop on different organs or tissues. The commonest types of cancers include lung cancer, breast cancer, cancer of the colon, cervical cancer, and prostate cancer. Other types of cancer include brain cancer, liver cancer, kidney cancer, leukemia, and Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Cancers have different symptoms depending on the type and the location affected. Some cancers do not present any symptoms in the early stages until the later stages of the disease. Diagnosis of Cancer Diagnosis of cancer depends on location and size of the cancer. A CT scan usually locates these tumors and determines the size of the tumors. The most used method of diagnosis for most cancers is biopsy. The type of biopsy also depends on the extent of cancer. It can be a simple operation or a serious one. Cancer symptoms and screening can also help diagnose cancers. However, they do not give a definitive diagnosis. The commonest cancer symptoms include chills, malaise, fever, fatigue, appetite loss, weight loss, night sweats, chest pains, coughing, and blood in stools. Doctors depend on examination of tissue biopsy by pathologists. Other common medical tests used to diagnose cancer include total blood count, x-rays, bone marrow biopsy, blood tests for tumor markers, MRI scans, and endoscopy (Aronson, 2010). Staging of Cancer Cancer staging refers to the extent or severity of cancer based on original tumor. Staging indicates the extent in which cancer has spread. There are four stages of cancer. Stage one to four. Factors such as the size of tumor, the extent of penetration, invasion into adjacent tissues and distant organs and the extent of metastasis, usually determine the stage of cancer. As tumors develop in a tissue or organ, they spread to other tissues and organs. They can also enter the blood stream or the lymphatic system and spread to other organs. Tumors spread from a primary site to a secondary site through a process called metastasis. Cancer staging is very important since it helps the doctors to predict death or survival and to provide treatment. The health care providers also use cancer staging to establish prognosis. Treatment can help restage cancer but rarely can it change the stage detected at diagnosis (Aronson, 2010). Staging also helps in identifying clinical trials that can suit particular patients. There are several systems used to cluster stages of cancer. They include the Tumor Node System, Ann Arbor system, scale I-IV, the FIGO system, Jewett Whitmore system and the Dukes staging system. These systems consider various elements used to cluster the stage. These include the primary site of the tumor, size, and number of tumors, the tumor cell type, the involvement of tumor and metastasis (Wen, Schiff, & Quant, 2012). The most used cancer staging system is the Tumor Node Metastasis (TNM) system. The TNM system usually clusters cancer in two stages, which include a clinical stage and a pathological stage. The clinical stage is the stage before surgery where cancer is described through physical examination and other forms o f diagnosis except biopsy. The pathological stage is the stage after removal of tumor for microscopic examination by the pathologist. Pathological stage is mostly preferred to the clinical stage. This is because pathological stage can show results of examination of tumor and the extent of the tumor. The clinical stage cannot show spread since the tumor is still intact in the body. However, clinical stage is suitable in a case where treatment is not surgical. TNM is limited because it cannot apply to brain cancers and blood cancers (Haskell, 2000). The other systems are Ann Arbor system for lymphoma, scale I-IV for Hodgkin’s disease and liver cancer, Duke staging system for colon cancer, the FIGO system for cervical and ovarian cancer and Jewett Whitmore system for prostate cancer. In general, the most staging method used to group cancers is the Roman numbers, stage grouping. The stage groups start from zero to IV. Stage 0 indicates an in-situ carcinoma, stage I indicates a localized cancer in the body, stage II indicates locally advanced cancers, stage III also for localized cancers and stage IV for metastasized cancers (Aronson, 2010). Complications of Cancer Cancer complications vary depending on the stage of cancer in a patient. Most complications are usually devastating, fatal and life changing. The commonest complications include, depression, anxiety, grief, and sadness. The others are fatigue and sleep disorders. In case of mental complications such as depression and mood disorders then professional treatment is essential. Management of Physical complications normally requires medications to relieve them. Some of the physical complications include nausea and vomiting, fever, pain, swelling of lymph nodes, itchiness, and pleural effusion. Side effects of treatment Even though the work of cancer medication is to treat, some forms of treatment such as chemotherapy and radiation usually affect patients negatively, leaving them with undesirable side effects. Effects of cancer are usually short term or long term. Short-term effects usually disappear after treatment but most long-term effects normally persist for a long time. Short-term effects include darkened skin, hair loss, hoarseness, and pain in the throat. The long-term effects include damaged glands, weakened immune system, nausea, complete hair loss, and damaged organs. The long-term effects are common with chemotherapy and radiation. Doctors should use these only when it is necessary. Lessening of physical and psychological effects requires professional treatment, which includes pain management and psychological counseling (Wen, Schiff, & Quant, 2012). Care of cancer Care of cancer requires an integrative approach, which involve synchronization of advanced treatment with supportive treatment to ensure quick recovery. The advanced treatment uses advanced medical techniques proved to treat cancer. These include radiation, chemotherapy, immunotherapy, and surgery. Chemotherapy usually targets the cancer cells by delivering a drug or a combination of drugs to kill them. This procedure has undesirable side effects but is very effective. Radiotherapy applies radiation to the cancer cells to kill them. It does this selectively by avoiding the normal body cells. Surgical removal of cancer-affected tissues is also affective in treating cancer. However, the result depends on surgeon’s experience. Supportive treatments involve the use of scientifically proven supportive therapies such as naturopathic medicine, nutritional support, spiritual support, and mind-body medicine. Naturopathic medicine is the use of herbal medicine and other scientifically tested medicines, to treat cancer. Nutritional support is the provision of proper nutrition when the patient is receiving advanced medication (Haskell, 2000). Psychotherapists usually provide Body-mind medicine to enable the patient to connect with the inner strength in order to gain control over the situation and to have a sense of hope. Spiritual support is faith-based and the healthcare workers ensure that the patient gets inspiration according to the patient’s faith. Conclusion Cancers occur when body cells undergo uncontrolled multiplication or when the normal cells forget to die. Cancers can be benign or malignant. Benign cancers are harmless while malignant cancers are very harmful. The various causes of cancers include radiation, environmental toxins such as aflatoxins, viruses, excessive alcohol consumption, chemicals such as benzene, excessive exposure to sunlight and genetic abnormalities. Diagnosis of cancer depends on location and size of the cancer. A CT scan usually locates these tumors and determines the size of the tumors. The most used method of diagnosis for most cancers is biopsy. There are four stages of cancer, which determine the extent, or severity of cancer. There are several staging systems of cancer but the most common is the Tumor Node Metastasis system (Haskell, 2000). The complications of cancer and side effects of treatment can have adverse effect, which require professional treatment and psychological support. The best approach for cancer treatment is the integrative approach, which synchronizes advanced treatment with supportive treatment References Aronson, J. K. (2010). Meyler's Side Effects of Drugs in Cancer and Immunology. Burlington: Elsevier Science. Haskell, C. M. (2000). Cancer treatment. Philadelphia, PA: Saunders. Wen, P. Y., Schiff, D., & Quant, E. (2012). Neurologic complications of cancer therapy. New York: demos Medical. Read More