Cancer Treatment: November 2012

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

why is cancer treatment dangerous for non cancerous cells

why is cancer treatment dangerous for non cancerous cells?

Cancer - 6 Answers

Random Answers, Critics, Comments, Opinions :
1 :
Because the idea of treatment is to destroy cancerous cells but the medicine can't distinguish between them really so it attacks normal cells too.
2 :
Chemotherapy is designed to kill fast growing cells like cancer, but it can also kill healthy cells, and the reason people lose their hair is because it is also a fast growing cell.
3 :
My chemo didn't hurt my non cancerous cells... It affects the cells with the fastest turnover so, like the cells of the heart wouldn't be damaged because cell turnover in the heart is very slow. I didn't even lose my hair from the chemo.
4 :
Because it is toxic.
5 :
Clearly the answer is actually quite complicated, but basically, older cancer treatments tended to be hard on non-cancerous cells because of they targeted necessary components for all cells to divide, not just the cancerous cells. As such, the cells that divided rapidly were more susceptible, and were thus killed off. Over time, however, extensive research has produced more targeted therapies that are able to select out certain markers on some cancer cell lines that are overexpressed compared with healthy cells, thereby limiting toxicity compared with older, less specific agents. Still other medications are able to target a particular type of cell (like a B cell for example), sparing many other types of cells from destruction. Which therapy will work depends on the cancer and certain cell markers on those cancer cells, in addition to specific patient factors and prior treatment attempts.
6 :
There are 3 major ways of treating cancer. First off cancer cells occur in most everyone, but our Immune Cells recognize them and take them out as foreign cells. Our Immune cells recognize them by the markers on their cell surface. Cancer cells can be quite devious though, The can become virtually "stealth" cells and avoid detection by our Immune System. Cancer cells are not like normal cells. Normal cells arise, do their work, replace themselves by cell division and then die. (Normal cells undergo a kind of cell-suicide termed Apoptosis). Cancer Cells, on the other hand arise, replace themselves and never die, they do not undergo Apoptosis, in cancer research we refer to them as immortals. They continue to replace themselves and each time they do they give rise to other cancer cells and so on and so on. Cancer cells are "rude", they grow on top of each other, essentially forming tumors. The reason that cancer treatment can be dangerous for normal (noncancerous) cells is that Cancer Cells still have some cell surface markers that designate them as being normal. ~~ in other words they evade your natural immune response that is hunting down "foreign" invaders. (such as virus, bacteria, etc). So how do we knock out the cancer cells without knocking out the normal cells? We are talking about targeting identification markers at molecular level on Cancer Cells that are different (distinct) from markers on our Normal Cells. We are not that sophisticated at being able to target only the cancer cells with no damage occurring to the normal cells. Cancer treatments are currently: 1) Cut the Cancer Tumor out ~~ we call that Surgery. If a surgical Cancer Doc, (surgical oncologist) cuts out a tumor, they often take additional tissue surrounding the tumor so as not to miss any "escapers"; 2) Burn the Cancer out ~~ we call that Radiation. Often this is also done following surgery to eliminate any "escapers". 3) Poison the Cancer out ~~ we call that chemotherapy. These are cancer drugs that target cells that undergo cell replication continually, Cancer cells replicate themselves at a high rate, unfortunately so do human hair cells and human intestinal cells ~~ thats why chemotherapy and radiation therapy can cause temporary (but extreme) nausea from loss of cells that line the digestive tract; as well as loss of hair on the head and body. We are working on finding a marker that is specific to Cancer Cells and not Normal Cells. Then we could design selective therapies that would take out the cancer and not harm the normal cells. Perhaps in our lifetime...

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Saturday, November 24, 2012

what is the most successful cancer treatment known given our modern technological advances

what is the most successful cancer treatment known given our modern technological advances?
plzzzzz help, only serious answers. help. best answer get 10 POINTS
Polls & Surveys - 3 Answers
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1 :
chemotherapy and radiation, as well as surgery to remove any tumors.
2 :
probably chemo, however there's a high chance that even that wont help. and in some case, chemo actually more dangerous than anything.
3 :
Change your food choices- eat less (red) meat, and more vegetables....and then you will not get cancer!!! Do some investigating and you will see.... If someone already has cancer, I don't know!

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Tuesday, November 20, 2012

How long can someone survive with undiagnosed breast cancer with no treatment

How long can someone survive with undiagnosed breast cancer with no treatment?

Cancer - 2 Answers

Random Answers, Critics, Comments, Opinions :
1 :
I'd like you to learn the research below: One way to measure the harm breast cancer does, and the progress medicine makes against the disease, is to look at how long women survive after being diagnosed. A person who survives five years after diagnosis with some types of cancer is likely to live out a normal lifespan. But this is not true with breast cancer. More than half the women whose breast cancer comes back have survived more than five years after their original diagnosis. While 10-year survival rates give a better measure of lifetime survival, breast cancer can recur at any time. Ultimately, what matters is bringing the death rate down. Researchers have taken a detailed look at characteristics of women in five Bay Area counties who were diagnosed with breast cancer between 1988 and 1992. The researchers tracked who survived and who died until 2001. Women who died from causes other than breast cancer were taken out of the statistics. They were not counted, for this research, as either dying or surviving. These figures for the five Bay Area counties do not necessarily reflect the picture for the entire state. Here are some things the researchers found: 1) African American and Hispanic Women Have Lower Rates of Survival 2) Young Women Are Less Likely to Survive Unlike many other types of cancer, breast cancer is more deadly when it strikes younger women. 3) Women Diagnosed at Early Stages Are More Likely to Survive A woman whose breast cancer is detected before it has spread beyond its original location is more likely to survive than a woman whose cancer was detected at a later stage. However, some women with breast cancer are not helped by current treatment methods. If their cancer is detected at an early stage, they will have a longer survival time after diagnosis, but their lives may not actually last any longer than they would have with a later diagnosis. A woman whose tumor is going to end her life by age 50, because no treatment will be effective, is not helped if her treatment begins at age 42 rather than at age 48. However, if she is diagnosed and begins treatment at age 42, she will be counted as having survived longer than five years. If she is diagnosed and begins treatment at age 48, she won't. For this reason, widespread detection of breast cancer at earlier stages can make survival figures look better than they actually are. 4) Hormone Receptors Make A Difference Hormone receptors are proteins found in some breast tumors. Two types, estrogen receptors and progesterone receptors, allow the tumors to take in the hormones estrogen and progesterone. These hormones normally circulate in women's blood. Tumors that have these receptors need the hormones to live and grow. If a woman's tumor is positive for hormone receptors, it improves her chance of surviving. After five years, 91 percent of women whose tumors test positive for hormone receptors are alive, compared with 80-81 percent of women whose tumors test negative for these receptors. After ten years, 84- 85 percent of women whose tumors have hormone receptors are alive, compared to 75-76 percent of women whose tumors do not have these receptors. There are two reasons for the difference in survival. First, tumors that do not contain hormone receptors are more likely to be able to spread to other parts of the body. Second, there are better treatments to reduce recurrence of receptor-positive tumors. 5) Income and Education Affect Survival Women with higher incomes and more education, who are more likely to get breast cancer to begin with, are also more likely to survive breast cancer than women with lower incomes and less education. The main reason seems to be that these women get diagnosed at earlier stages of the disease. For more about this, see the section of this booklet, "Income, Education, and Breast Cancer." How This Research Was Done Researchers used information about 9,765 women diagnosed with invasive breast cancer between 1988 and 1992 in Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco and San Mateo counties. The information was collected by the federal government's National Cancer Institute as part of its Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) program. Information in this section comes from Chapter 11 of Breast Cancer in California, 2003, "Breast Cancer Survival in the San Francisco Bay Area," by Cynthia O'Malley, Ph.D. and Gem Le, M.S.***
2 :
It depends on the particular tumor, its pathology. Some breast cancers are frighteningly fast (Inflammatory Breast Cancer), and some may grow undetected for years. The good news is, mammograms and other screening tests are extremely effective at catching breast cancer early. It is highly recommended that mammograms be performed by facilities that specialize in breast imaging, as there can be a vast difference in the rates of detection if the facility is inexperienced at breast imaging.

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Friday, November 16, 2012

What are angio suppressive agents and what are thier potential use in the treatment of cancer

What are angio suppressive agents and what are thier potential use in the treatment of cancer?

Medicine - 1 Answers
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1 :
Firstly angiogenesis is the process by which blood vessels are formed. Therefore angio suppressive agents block the formation of blood vessels. Tumors are aggressivly growing clusters of cells which need a blood supply. It is thought that if you suppress the growth of the vessels leading to the tumor with suppressive drugs, like thalidomide for example, you will slow the growth of the tumor. ps. the website below is kind of complex but very informative

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Monday, November 12, 2012

how long do you have pain after cervical cancer treatment

how long do you have pain after cervical cancer treatment?

Cancer - 1 Answers

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1 :
visit here maybe it found: http://canceratoz.blogspot.com/

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Thursday, November 8, 2012

Whats a Medical Treatment for Lung Cancer

Whats a Medical Treatment for Lung Cancer?
I have this science project about Lung Cancer and I need to study it. These are one of my questions from the Report that I need to return in two weeks. And I got a bit interested in it. Any help?
Cancer - 2 Answers
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1 :
Surgery to remove the cancer, radiation therapy, or medications (chemotherapy).
2 :
There are different types of lung cancer, different stages, and different treatments. You can read more about Non small cell lung cancer treatments at the National Cancer Institute: NCI:Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Treatment http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/pdq/treatment/non-small-cell-lung/Patient And read more about treatment options for Small cell lung cancer at NCI: NCI: Small cell lung cancer treatment http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/pdq/treatment/small-cell-lung/patient

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Sunday, November 4, 2012

What would be a sucessfull PSA reduction after radiation treatment for Prostate Cancer

What would be a sucessfull PSA reduction after radiation treatment for Prostate Cancer?
72 Year old male with a psa of 7.3. If he were to recieve radiation, what would be a great radiation result if you are only measuring the PSA score?
Cancer - 1 Answers

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1 :
For a man of 72 then a PSA count of up to 4 or 5 can be normal with no cancer. It is likely that after radiation therapy the PSA will go below that level, possibly to less than 1. The key thing is how long it stays that low and whether alternative (probably hormone) therapy is necessary to keep levels down. With a PSA of 7.3 the cancer is likely to be confined to the prostate and therefore far easier to control. Many more people die with prostate cancer than from it. Think of it like a disease that needs to be controlled like diabetes. Good luck!

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Thursday, November 1, 2012

What authority to contact to turn in a Dr / parents who did not get appropriate treatment for minor w/ cancer

What authority to contact to turn in a Dr / parents who did not get appropriate treatment for minor w/ cancer?
A young boy who has Ewing's sarcoma who did not receive chemo. I believe the Dr's and parents are both guilty of withholding appropriate treatment. What authority could I contact to have this investigated?
Law & Ethics - 4 Answers
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1 :
Department of Health.
2 :
go to your state senator,governor or your state medical board.
3 :
Contact child protective services.
4 :
why are you in a position to determine 'APPROPRIATE" treatment? Are you a Dr yourself, or a parent to this child? In most cases, medical treatment is a decision between the parent and Dr. That is part of parental rights. The only authority who has any other rights is child protective services, and that might not go far.

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