The treatment options for cancer have expanded and widened than what they were a century back. Availability of newer and better modes of treatments is an incredible advancement in medical science and most of all; it has brought a new ray of hope and courage to fight cancer. Speaking of the treatment options, different modes of treatment exist for different cancer. Some of them have been exclusively developed/studied for a particular type of cancer, e.g. B.C.G vaccine helping in the treatment of bladder cancer. One of the most widely spread and most effective therapies for cancer as of yet is Chemotherapy.

Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy is medications that treat cancer. They consist of a wide range of medicines with different mechanism of action. To understand the basic concept of the working of chemotherapeutic agents, understanding of the process of cancer is necessary. Cancer occurs when the normal functioning of the body gets disrupted. Cells are the functional unit of the body. They grow, carry out their assigned function and then die eventually. Cancer develops when these cells start dividing uncontrollably in an eccentric fashion and do not die a timely death. They become highly toxic and damaging when they outgrow the normal cells and starts damaging the organs. Most commonly, chemotherapy acts by killing cells that divide uncontrollably and rapidly, which happens to be their main mode of action. Some normal cells do divide quickly, mainly cells in hair follicles, the mouth, digestive tract, nails and bone marrow. Chemotherapy therefore, can also affect other normally rapidly dividing cells, which is the reason behind their serious side effects. Different chemotherapy drugs damage cancer cells in different ways. If a combination of drugs is used, each drug is chosen because of its different effects. In most cases, a combinational therapy is given for maximum benefit. Chemotherapy is given for a variety of purposes like:

- To cure a cancer: this is cancer specific and does not always happen.

- To shrink or reduce the size of the tumor mass before another procedure like

Surgery.

- As a palliative therapy, i.e. when the cancer cannot be completely cured, chemotherapy can be given to lessen the symptoms and signs of the disease

- To kill the residual cancer cells after other therapies like surgery etc.

. The routes of administration of the drugs are many and mainly depend on the type of cancer and the condition of the patient. While some agents are given by mouth (per os), others might be given intravenously, subcutaneously, intramuscularly etc.

Chemotherapeutic agents are heavy drugs and give rise to a number of side effects. Some of the common side effects are:

- Fatigue, tiredness and lethargy.

- Increased chances of contracting infections

- Bruises and tendency to bleeding

- Nausea and vomiting. Sometimes it could be diarrhea or constipation as well.

- Sexual dysfunction is some treatments

- Hair loss, however hair grows back after the treatment.

Surgery

Surgery is another effective option, although not always. It is limited to cancers, which have not spread to the other parts of body and can be easily resected, e.g. breast cancer. Sometimes, radiation and chemotherapy are given before the surgery takes place, in order to shrink the size of the tumor and make it more resectable. Surgery is sometimes done to relieve the patient of the signs and symptoms of cancer, the most typical being pain. This is done when the tumor has already spread to other parts of the body.

Radiation

 Radiation therapy means the use of ionizing radiation to kill or shrink cancer cells. Ionizing radiations cause breaks and damages in the DNA and hence helps destroy the cancerous cells. In this process, normal cells are also affected, however, normal cells are thought to recover and regain their normal functioning with time. That is why; radiation therapy is given in fragments, so that normal cells get time to recover. To prevent damage of the normal tissue, radiation beams are focused from several angles to the exact site of the tumor. Radiation therapy is mostly used as combination therapy with chemo and surgery.

Other modes of treatment

Immunotherapy like the use of BCG vaccine has been used in the treatment of bladder cancer. Stem cell transplantation in leukemia patients is also a kind of immunotherapy.

Hormonal therapy is another very small and unexplored mode of treatment. It has been found to be useful in breast and prostate cancer, since some of them are hormone dependent cancers. Blocking of certain hormones helps in the regression of such tumors.

Monoclonal antibody therapy is a way of treatment, which involves an antibody that specifically binds to a certain part on the cancer cells. E.g. Rituximab used in blood malignancies.

After rigorous planning and studying, a treatment plan is etched out for the patient. The combination of various treatments, their dosage, route of administration, management of side effects is a tedious and difficult job. Stressing on the above-mentioned fact, it is easy to prevent a cancerous process. A healthy lifestyle with a balanced, nutritious diet not only keeps us physically fit, it also keeps our internal environment on a check. Even then, if diagnosed with cancer, patience and determination prove to be great virtues in fighting it.