Combination Treatment of Cancer Therapy

For some cancers, the best treatment is a combination of surgery, radiation and chemotherapy. Surgery or radiation to treat cancer , whose land is limited, while chemotherapy kills cancers cells that are beyond the reach of  surgery or radiation.

Sometimes radiation or chemotherapy before surgery, to reduce tumor size, or after surgery to destroy remaining cancer cells.

Chemotherapy combined with surgery, would improve the change of life expectancy in patients with colon cancer, breast or bladder that has spread to regional lymph nodes. Surgery and chemotherapy can sometimes cure ovarian cancer that has spread.

Rectal cancer have been successfully treated with chemotherapy and radiation therapy. In the colon cancer that has spread, chemotherapy given after surgery can prolong disease-free survival.

Approximately 20-40% of head and neck cancer has been cured by chemotherapy followed by radiation therapy or surgery. For those who do not experience healing, this therapy can reduce symptoms (palliative therapy).

Surgery, radiation therapy and chemotherapy play an important role in the treatment of Wilms tumor and rabdomiosarcoma. In rabdomiosarkoma (kidney cancer in childhood), the goal of surgery is to remove the primary cancer, even if tumor cells have spread to other body part away from the kidney. Chemotherapy started at the time of surgery and radiation therapy is given then to treat the local area of residual cancer.

Some tumor (tumos of the stomach, pancreas or kidney) only provide a response to radiation therapy, Chemotherapy or a combination of both. Therapy may reduce pain due to stress or symptoms that arise when tumors infiltrate into surrounding tissue.

Some tumors are resistant (for example lung cancer non-small cell esophageal cancer, pancreatic cancer, kidney cancer) can be treated to improve survival time.

Posted in: cancer