Cancer Treatments
There are several types of therapy that can be used to treat cancer. These include chemotherapy, radiation therapy, hormone therapy and immunotherapy. Sometimes you may need one form, or they can be combined with other forms of treatment like surgery.
HIPEC surgical procedure
Cytoreductive surgery and Hyperthermic Intraperitoneal Chemotherapy (HIPEC) is an advanced and extensive surgical procedure combined with a one-time treatment with heated chemotherapy at the end of the operation. Only a very selected group of patients suffering from peritoneal carcinomatosis (cancer spread within the abdominal surface) can undergo this procedure. These typically include some patients with appendiceal cancer, pseudomyxoma peritonei, ovarian cancer, mesothelioma, and colorectal cancer.
Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy uses drugs to try and stop the growth of cancer cells. It can shrink tumors and, depending on the type of cancer, cure the cancer completely.
Many times, chemotherapy is the first line of defense against fast-growing cancers. It kills or reduces the number of cancer cells and targets healthy cells.
This treatment can cause side effects like nausea and hair loss that often go away after treatment is complete.
As science has advanced, chemotherapy has also advanced. It is frequently given intravenously, but can also be given orally, through an injection or even topically.
Depending on your type and severity of cancer, your treatment cycle schedule may vary and include chemotherapy followed by a period of rest to let your body recover and build healthy cells.
Radiation therapy
Radiation therapy uses high amounts of targeted radiation to kill cancer and shrink tumors. This form of therapy is most effective because it damages the cancer’s DNA. Once the DNA is damaged, it will start to die. This process takes time, as it can take weeks or months for the damage to build up enough for the DNA to start to die.
There are two main kinds of radiation therapy. External beam radiation therapy is a localized treatment that targets specific parts on the outside of your body. Internal radiation therapy is targeted but given internally and causes you to give off radiation.
Because your body can only accept a certain amount of radiation, this type of treatment is commonly used to improve outcomes with other treatments like surgery and chemotherapy for cancers like breast, prostate and head and neck.
Radiation therapy types:
- Image Guided Radiotherapy (IGRT) refers to the use of sophisticated technologies to guide the precise delivery of radiation therapy treatments. With IGRT, we can confirm patient and tumor position during treatment. Knowing the exact tumor location allows us to reduce the amount of tissue treated. The tumor can be more accurately targeted, increasing the likelihood of tumor control and sparing more of the surrounding healthy tissue, reducing side effects and ultimately improving your quality of life.
- TrueBeam Radiotherapy System: The TrueBeam is a linear accelerator, a machine that treats cancer by using high-energy radiation beams created to kill tumor cells. The state-of-the-art TrueBeam system offers advanced imaging capabilities such as Cone Beam CT and Real-Time Position Management (RPM) for highly accurate patient positioning and monitoring. Combined, these technologies allow for real-time motion detection by tracking a patient’s breathing patterns during treatment, giving physicians the ability to target smaller treatment areas. These treatment options are specifically useful for left-side breast and lung treatments, reducing the radiation dose to the underlying heart or other critical structures.
- Stereostatic Body Radiation Therapy (SBRT) and Stereostatic Radiosurgery (SRS): A special high dose-rate feature on the TrueBeam facilitates the use of advanced treatment techniques such as Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy (SBRT) and Stereotactic Radiosurgery (SRS), delivering ultra-conformal radiation treatments in as little as one to five treatment sessions. Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy (SBRT) and Stereotactic Radiosurgery (SRS) are advanced forms of therapy that deliver a high dose of radiation to a small target. With this technology, treatments are delivered with high accuracy and precision, allowing for a higher radiation dose to the tumor, greater sparing of normal tissue and fewer radiation treatments.
- SBRT treatments are commonly used for difficult to treat tumors in the lung, liver, bone and other critical organs.
- SRS treatments are used for precise treatments of brain tumors.
- Intraoperative Radiation Therapy (IORT)
- Ion Navigation Bronchoscopy
- CyberKnife® Radiosurgery
Immunotherapy
Immunotherapy is a biological drug therapy that targets your immune system. Your immune system will regularly identify and destroy abnormal cells. However, sometimes cancer cells will infiltrate your system and can even turn off your immune cells. Immunotherapy identifies this interference so your immune system can fight off the cancer.
A common form of immunotherapy is T-cell transfer therapy, which takes cells from the tumor. Instead of attacking your healthy cells, the cells from the tumor are changed and grown in a lab to attack the tumor. These cells are injected back into your body.
Immunotherapy is not widely used because sometimes cancer cells will become immune and decrease the response to treatment. However, this treatment has shown success in treating melanoma, lung, bladder and kidney cancers.
Hormone therapy
Hormone therapy, also called endocrine therapy, is commonly used to treat prostate and breast cancers.
This type of therapy blocks the body from producing certain hormones and is used in conjunction with other therapies to shrink tumors before surgery or other therapy. Hormone therapy also destroys cancer cells from spreading to other parts of the body.
The side effects from this therapy can include hot flashes, nausea and fatigue.
The drugs used in hormone therapy will only target certain hormones and stop the body from making the hormone. Patients can receive this treatment at home, as it is commonly given through oral medication.
