“You have cancer.” Those few words, uttered from a doctor’s mouth, can break hearts and change lives. The century old fear of cancer still survives in the hearts and minds of those whose lives and families have been affected by this tragic disease. With modern medicines more and more people are surviving the many different types of cancer, but the fear of the disease is still very prominent. Surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy are just a few of the treatments used to treat cancer. Surgery is used to remove small tumors that have not yet spread through the body. Afterwards radiation is used to control the smaller tumor growths that could not be removed during surgery. Chemotherapy, often just called ‘chemo’, is used to destroy the cancer that has spread or that can’t be reached surgically or by a radiation therapy (“History of Cancer”). It has saved many people’s lives by destroying the cancer in their bodies. Chemo is like life, it had a beginning, it has a middle, and hopefully one day the need for chemotherapy will end.
Chemotherapy was first discovered during World War II when naval personnel, who had been exposed to mustard gas, were found with toxic changes in their bone marrow cells. During the war, “the US Army was studying chemicals related to mustard gas to develop more effective agents for war and also develop protective measures.” This research led to the discovery of a compound called nitrogen mustard (“History of Cancer). Two pharmacologists, Louis Goodman and Alfred Gilman, used nitrogen mustard to treat a patient who had non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. The tumor masses of the patient regressed, but “this remission, however, lasted only a few weeks, and disease again progressed, but the principle was establis...
... middle of paper ...
...ng Chemotherapy: A Guide for Patients and Families." American Cancer Society. 17 March 2011. Web. 1 Nov. 2011. .
Chabner, Bruce A and Thomas G. Roberts Jr. "Timeline: Chemotherapy and the War on Cancer." MEDLINE. January 2005. Web. 2 Nov. 2011. .
Miller, Denis R. "A tribute to Sidney Farber: The Father of Modern Chemotherapy." MEDLINE. British Journal Of Hematology , 28 June 2006. Web. 4 Nov. 2011. .
Cancer is a disease in which cells multiply out of control and gradually build a mass of tissue called a tumor. There has been a large amount of research dedicated to the treatment and cure of cancer. Several types of treatments have been developed. The following are just some of the major examples of cancer therapy: surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, biologic therapy, biorhythms, unconventional treatments, and hyperthermia. Each type of treatment is discussed in detail below.
"Palliative Care | Cancer.Net." Doctor-approved Cancer Information from ASCO | Cancer.Net. Cancer.net, Feb. 2010. Web. 19 Jan. 2011. .
There were challenges during numerous meetings with oncologist. I always had several questions about their protocol, diets and supplements. Their main focus was optimal immune system to administer chemotherapy. I believe that supplements and eliminating mucus forming foods could help them during chemotherapy. Most oncologist disagreed and therefore lead ...
Chemoprevention requires treatments that are administered to presumably healthy, asymptomatic subjects who do not have cancer, but do have risk factors associated with an increased probability to cultivate the cancer which the experimental intervention is theorized to condense. So, chemoprevention research involves at-risk research subjects who are neither patients diagnosed with disease, as in treatment trials, or typical healthy volunteers. There is a growing interest and investment in research on cancer chemoprevention. Several major cancer chemoprevention trials have been conducted in the United States, including trials testing the effectiveness of tamoxifen, both alone and later compared to raloxitene, to prevent primary invasive breast cancer; finasteride to prevent prostate cancer; and beta-carotene to prevent lung cancer.
Chemotherapy drugs are more dangerous than other drugs because of their narrow therapeutic index. What is therapeutic index you ask? It is the ratio between a toxic dose and a therapeutic dose of a drug so any medication error with chemotherapy drugs could be a fatal one. Chemotherapy drugs can be very toxic even at the prescribed therapeutic level recommended by the physician. The findings in this article shows that the patient themselves are the first line of defense in spotting errors in medications they receive because they obs...
Fitzgerald, G.J. (2008, July). Chemical Warfare and Medical Response during World War I. Publication Medical Central. Retrieved July, 2008 from
"Treatment & Side Effects." BreastCancer.org - Breast Cancer Treatment Information and Pictures. Web. 06 May 2010. .
Chao, Clifford, et al. Radiation Oncology: Management Decisions. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams and Wilkins, May 16, 2011. Print.
According to SEER Statistics, 23,380 people are estimated to get a brain or nervous system cancer diagnosis. Out of those people, 14,320 people are estimated to die from their brain or nervous system cancer diagnosis (National Cancer Institute). Cancer is a type of dangerous tumor, or a buildup of extra cells that form a mass of tissue, that can be life threatening (National Cancer Institute). The term for a tumor that is cancerous is a malignat tumor, whereas a benign tumor does not contain cancer cells (National Cancer Institute). According to the National Cancer Institute, the causes of brain cancer are unknown, but risk factors include family history and excessive radiaton exposure. Although they are not always due to a brain tumor, comon symptoms include headaches, nausea, speech, hearing, vision, and mood changes, problems with balance and mamories, seizures, and numbness in arms and legs (National Cancer Institute). MRI and CT scans as well as surgical biposies (or the removal of part of the tumor to be examined) are used to diagnose brain cancer (National Cancer Institute). Different types of treatment options include radiation therapy, surgery to remove the tumor, and chemotherapy. According to Charles Davis, MD, PhD and Nitin Tandon, MD of WebMD.com, chemotherapy is “ the use of powerful drugs to kill tumor cells”. There are a few different types of chemotherapy, but all of which bring out the same kinds of side effects. Although the physical side effects of chemotherapy are commonly known, few people know of the emotional toll chemotherapy can take on a patient and his or her family as they go though this process.
Chemical Warfare and Medical Response During World War I, 2008 US National Library of Medicine, accessed 20 March 2014, .
Government funding has proven to be essential and effective in the fight against cancer. On December 23, 1971 President Nixon signed the National Cancer Act, which promised to finance the quest for the cure. Financial aid such as this has directly benefitted survival rates for those diagnosed with cancer. Forty years ago before such funding was provided, when a child was diagnosed with cancer most physicians considered the patient to be terminally ill and supportive care was almost the only thing offered to the family. However over the last few decades, due to research and participation in clinical trials performed due to funding, the majority of children are cured. Because of the creations of new drugs and therapies as a result of government aid, the survival rat...
No one, no matter how weak or strong, rich or poor, tall or small, is safe from the reach of cancer. Cancer is a dangerous disease killing millions every year without any for sure or easy way to treat it. For years people have tried to raise awareness towards cancer but now that it threatens the lives of so many do people listen and try to help. However even with the help of dozens of different groups and agencies cancer rates continue to grow at an alarming rate. Although we have found ways to treat it we only have theories on how to prevent and stop it. What make cancer so deadly are its Symptoms, commonness, dangerous treatments, the many different areas it can affect, and the cost encored.
“Since 1990, over 6 million Americans have died of cancer, more than the combined casualties from the Civil war, WWII, and the Vietnam and Korean conflicts combined” (Faguet, p. 5). According to American Cancer Society projections, there were 1,529,560 new cases of cancer in 2010. Cancer is becoming more and more common around the world. New cancers are constantly being discovered. Researchers are finding new ways to detect cancer and treat it so that the fatality rate does not rise. However, there are some cancers that researchers have not yet discovered a cure for. It is very important for Cancer Research to continue so that one day these cancers will no longer be a treat.
"What are the treatments for cancer?." A.D.A.M. Life's Greatest Mysteries. 2001. eLibrary. Web. 17 Dec. 2013.
In the beginning of the 20th century, scientists were experimenting with a wide range of chemicals to develop a method that may affect several diseases in hopes of producing a cure. A German chemist, Paul Ehrlich, who was experimenting treatments of syphilis with chemical methods, created the term “chemotherapy” (Bonander, 2011). It wasn’t until 1943 when the United State’s secret chemical weapon program discovered that nitrogen mustard, also know...