Cancer Treatment

Cancer research has made significant progress in finding the cures for Cancer over the past 20 years. It continues to develop new means to fight back this menace and with rapid progress in the fields of biomedicine, it is hoped that within the foreseeable future, a permanent cure for cancer may be found. At present, there are various forms of treatment as well.

These are:

Biologic Therapy : Biologic therapies help the body fight back cancer through substance occurring in the body itself. This form of cancer treatment stimulates the natural immune system and thus allows the body to counter the Cancer cells.
Bone marrow transplant : Bone marrow is the body’s own laboratory for manufacturing cells. It produces white blood cells, red blood cells and platelets. White blood cells are extremely important for the body’s immune system and thus, this form of cancer treatment helps the body restore its immune system.
Chemotherapy : Chemotherapy involves exposing the cancer cells to significant levels of radiation so as to kill them. This form of cancer treatment has significant side effects as well and is mostly used when cancer has reached serious levels.
Gene therapy : Genes are the body’s blueprint. Cancer treatments which involve manipulation of genes can also help prevent the risk.
Surgical oncology : In cases where the cancer has developed too far, it becomes necessary to surgically remove the cancer. Such cases carry a high risk of regeneration and are also painful.
Proton therapy : Proton therapy, which involves exposing the cancer cells to proton irradiation, has also been used as an effective cancer treatment.
Vaccine therapy : Vaccines help the body’s immune system identify and attack the cancer cells. This form of cancer treatment aims to spur the immune system and help it to produce effective antigens which can treat the cancer.
Photodynamic therapy : This form of cancer treatment involves a light source, such as laser, and a photo sensitive drug. When the drug is activated by the light source, it attacks the cancer cells and thus kills them off.

There continue to be advances in the field of cancer therapy and with time, it is hoped that cancer treatment can become common and affordable as well.