Cancer: a challenge to overcome
Cancer is a term that instils a sense of dread and despair in the most optimistic of minds. After all, it is a supposedly deadly disease which hampers the life of the patient not only in its quantitative aspect but also in its quality. However, awareness about this disease is the most potent tool for that one can use to survive and overcome it. Most of the cases that are considered terminal or ultimately fatal are those that were diagnosed too late. Therefore, knowledge and timely diagnosis are the two important first steps towards overcoming cancer.
Cancer is nothing but an unnatural growth of tissues, the cells of which have had their genetic makeup altered due to chemical carcinogens, physical stimulants or heredity. All cells are programmed to die after a certain period of time. This self destruction, or apoptosis, is a natural phenomenon which is mediated by certain genes and is crucial for survival of the organism as a whole. However, sometimes due to certain stimulants, these genes are disabled, or oncogenes are stimulated to work overtime, thus preventing cell death and causing a continuous growth and division cycle in the cells involved. Therefore while the stimulants that cause cancer can be varied, the pathogenesis is typically genetic in nature.
It is with this genetic etiopathogenesis of cancer that new age genetic modulation techniques are being employed and research is going on in the field of gene therapy as an alternative to, or adjunct to, the more traditional treatment modalities, like surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Here, we look at all of these treatments in brief, and also at the less conventional, new age treatment modalities that are either still in testing phase or are being used at various centres with success.
DIAGNOSIS
This is the first and the most important step in the fight against cancer. A correct and, more importantly, timely diagnosis can dramatically reduce chances of remission, increase the success rate and also make treatment less invasive and more inexpensive. For this, it is important to be aware of any trends in the family towards cancer of the breast, prostate etc. this should be combined with annual or six monthly health checkups, which one must never ignore. The body has ways of communicating with the mind. Any lumps, growths, unease, pain or other symptoms must be reported immediately.
GRADING and STAGING
This is done by an oncologist, and says a lot about whether the growth is benign, or self limiting and therefore comparatively easier to treat, or if it is metastatic, or true cancer, in which case treatment modalities will change accordingly. The extent of spread, degree of severity and survival ratio is also based on this step.
BIOPSY
Small growths can be excised completely as a diagnostic – cum – therapeutic surgical technique while larger growths or metastatic growths will require incisional biopsy, or in case of blood or marrow cancer, a Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology, or FNAC. This step helps the pathologists and oncologists in further studying the cancer cells microscopically.