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Articles: Science | About Cancer Treatment !!!
- Mr. Pamulaparti Venkata Phaneendra
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At around the same time, the English surgeon Stephen Paget discovered that cancer cells could spread through the blood and lymph systems, but could only grow in a few organs. He drew the brilliant analogy between cancer spread ('metastasis') and 'seeds that are carried in all directions, but they can only live and grow if they fall on congenial soil'.
This work laid the foundation for another landmark in the history of cancer surgery, the development of 'regional lymphadenectomy'. This involves the removal of the lymph nodes surrounding the affected organ. This technique led to a drastic reduction in tumour recurrence rates for these cancers, which include breast, bowel and stomach cancers.
Despite these advances, surgery remained a fairly drastic and disfiguring cancer treatment until the 1950s. By this time, radiotherapy and chemotherapy had become widely available, and could be used in combination with surgery. This allowed doctors to target cancer cells that may have escaped the surgeon's knife.
Treatment given after surgery, to kill any cells that might have broken away from the tumour during the operation, is called adjuvant therapy. Treatment given before surgery to shrink a tumour and make it easier to remove is called neo-adjuvant therapy.
Recently, cancer surgery has benefited from the use of high-tech imaging techniques such as ultrasound, MRI and CT scanning These procedures allow a surgeon to find out the exact size and shape of a patient's tumour. And the widespread use of keyhole surgery allows surgeons to operate on a patient's tumour without leaving large disfiguring scars.
2)Radiotherapy
Radiotherapy uses precisely targeted high-energy rays to kill cancer cells. It does this by damaging a cell's internal components (molecules), causing the cells to commit suicide by apoptosis. When a high-energy ray hits a molecule, it can cause it to break up. This can form free radicals, which can cause further damage to the inside of the cell.
Some rare metals, for example radium, emit high-energy gamma-rays naturally. In other cases, radiation can be produced in a special machine, where a metal element is heated to produce electrons. These accelerate in an electric field towards a piece of tungsten metal, which then emits high-energy x-rays when they hit it.
Wilhelm Röntgen, a German physics professor, discovered x-rays in 1896. He gave a lecture called 'Concerning a New Type Of Ray', which caused a revolution in the scientific community. Just weeks later, Emil Grubbé, a student doctor in Chicago, became the first person to use of radiation to treat cancer. And three years later, two Swedish doctors used radiotherapy to cure several cases of head and neck cancer. In 1901, Röntgen was awarded the Nobel Prize for his discovery.
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