Posts Tagged ‘Treatment Regimen’

The Truth about Cancer Remission

Cancer remission is said to be a positive response to cancer treatments. Furthermore, it opens up an arena of positivity for the victims of cancer as well as their families. Yes, it is true.  Remission indicates hope to the individuals involved. However, many people ultimately believe that the term “remission” means “cured,” but this is far from the truth. It is only a misunderstanding or misinterpretation of the term.

The presence of cancer in the family can be a difficult and life-changing event. Challenging decisions, difficult adjustments or even depression is usually present. Many families have been greatly affected by this disease.

Cancer treatments can be very expensive and demanding.  Painful chemotherapy sessions consume most of the victims’ strength as well as savings. It also affects the daily lives of the patient’s family. In other words, when a cancer-stricken individual is in remission, it is a great relief to the patient as well as his/her family. But for how long will this last? The answer is still a mystery because no one really knows how long the remission process will last.

As medically defined, remission indicates favorable response to a treatment regimen, but it is not defined as a complete cure to a certain disease such as cancer.

There are two types of remission. These include partial and complete remission.
Partial remission refers to a significant decrease of cancer cells present in the body, although there are few clues of the disease present in the body.

In cases of breast cancer, tumors such as lymphoma manifest as a solid lumps of the lymphoid cells and metastasize into cancer cells. Shrinkage of tumor sizes, reduced growth and absence of spread are observed during partial remission. In addition, the physical symptoms experienced by the victim such as weight loss, pain and weakness are greatly reduced.

On the other hand, complete remission refers to the absence or disappearance of the cancer cells in the body. Traces of cancer are no longer evident. At some point, lab results may also show negative vestige of such a pathological condition. Moreover, physical manifestations of this condition will cease to exist.

Most cancer victims find signs of cancer remission as a great relief which leads them to the misunderstanding that they are completely cured. Such misconceptions lead them to stop their medication and treatment regimen or even cease continuing medical consultation.

In some cases, clients may experience absence from signs and symptoms of the disease for many years. However, it does not mean the cancer is cured because even in remission some cancer cells that are still in the body may become active again. Therefore, it will result into reoccurrence of the disease.

For this reason, doctors only use the term remission rather than cured because there is no guarantee that when signs of cancer remission flaunts, cancer victims are totally free of the disease.

Therefore, it is really important to correct people’s misconception of the term remission so that they will not gain false hopes.

This article is a guest post written by Haliyma, a freelance blogger and writer based in New York.  Haliyma enjoys writing informative articles about diseases including their symptoms and treatments, such as an article about cancer fighting foods.

All about Lung Cancer

Lung cancer is considered to be the top leading and the most common cause of cancer-related deaths each year. Lung cancer can affect any person, even those who have good health. According to researches and statistics, lung cancer had already surpassed the rate of deaths cause by breast cancer and other cancer diseases. Nearly one hundred fifty thousand are reported dead due to this form of cancer over the last few years.

Cigarette smoking is the top reason why cancer of the lung exists. This can promote either through first-hand smoking or passive or also known as second-hand smoking. The tobacco smoke contains carcinogenic agents which can be inhaled by the smoker and the non-smoker as well. However, some risk factors that can be related to the cancer of the lung may also include the inhalation of harmful compounds such as asbestos, radon, gas and many other harmful chemicals. Moreover, heredity, the men and the age of the person also play a major role in the disease existence.

In general, researches show that there are fewer than ten percent people that are affected with the cancer of the lung and have survived for the succeeding five years after diagnosis. But then, the five year survival rate only pertains to individuals who have undergone certain types of surgery and early treatments. This means that the efficiency of the treatment regimen and survival of the person will always depend on the stage of the cancer disease.

The severity of the lung cancer may vary on the staging of the tumor growth from cell carcinoma of the lung in situ or stage zero to stage IV. Staging of the cancer of the lung starts from lesser-damaged to the severe one. This only means that stage zero suggests that the cancer cells only destroyed limited part of the lung and can be treated, while Stage IV is the final stage in where the cancer cells and tumor has spread all throughout the lymph nodes and other parts. Moreover, the indications or symptoms of lung cancer also vary on the extent of the damage and spread of the tumor and cancer cells. However, the most common indicator that you are having a cancer of the lung is persistent cough, shortness of breath or difficulty of breathing, wheezing sounds that occur during inspiration or expiration and chest pain. Other than that, significant weight loss and loss of appetite is also indicative of cancer of the lung.

Similarly with the symptoms of lung cancer, the remedies of the disease will also depend on the severity of it. However, the most common type of treatment for patients who do have advanced cancer of the lung, radiation therapy and/or chemotherapy is always the treatment. These two treatments are mainly focus on preventing the cell from multiplying and killing it. Moreover, for some cases, certain types of surgery may be conducted to prevent the tumor from growing and spreading all throughout the body. For severe lung cancer cases and/or final stages, adjuvant chemotherapy is usually done and palliative care or alleviation of symptoms and prolonging of life is focused to patients.

Furthermore, if you are aware that you are prone to lung cancer, do not hesitate to visit and ask advice from your doctor. Remember that this cancer is diagnosed and treated late can lead you to death. Certain screening tests are now available for the detection of lung cancer. These screening tests will as well help the doctor in determining the lung cancer and treat it with effective treatment regimens. Chest radiograph is the most common test for detecting cancer of the lung. Moreover, sputum cytology, CT scans of the lungs is also best options for screening this type of cancer. Although there are no specific screening tests for cancer of the lung, certain clinical trials have been conducted.

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