Depending on a patient’s severity and stage of cancer, as well as age and general health, the doctor will tailor a treatment plan to control and manage symptoms. Treatment plans may include one or a combination of the below treatments:
It’s a drug treatment – used for fast growing cells. It can be used in these situations:
Immunotherapy is a type of treatment that uses certain parts of a person’s immune system to fight cancer. This works in two ways, one of which is to stimulate the immune system to attack the disease at a cellular level.
The second way immunotherapy works is by providing the body with immune system components, such as man-made immune system proteins. The advent of technology, especially in the area of cancer treatment, has allowed for the advancement of immunotherapy where drugs can specifically target cancer cells while leaving healthy cells undamaged.
Immunotherapy drugs are used to treat a wide variety of cancers, including lung, melanoma, head and neck, gastrointestinal, breast, kidney, bladder and Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
Some hormones can cause or accelerate cancer growth, and this form of therapy removes the hormones to stop the growth of cancer cells. It is most commonly used to fight prostate and breast cancers, and can be administered orally, or through injections, or surgery, where organs that produce hormones are removed.