5. How To Treat It

• How should cancer be treated?
  By surgery, chemotherapy, X-ray or cobalt therapy and high density electron therapy or a combination of all these in the earliest possible stage of the disease. All these methods are available in India at various Hospitals.
   

• Are X-ray treatments good for all kinds of cancer?
  No. Treatment depends on type and location of the growth. Some cancers will not respond to X-ray or radium treatment but must be treated by surgery or with hormones and Radioactive isotopes.
   

• What is the difference in the action of X-rays and radium or cancer tissue?
  There is no essential difference. When correctly used both will destroy cancer cells without seriously injuring the normal cells with which they come in contact.
   

• How are radium or radioactive isotopes used?
  Radium in hollow needles radioactive isotope wires are inserted into the cancerous growth are in the tissue surrounding it, and removed after treatment is concluded. Radium or radioactive isotopes in suitable containers may also he placed in contact with the growth as in cancer of the skin or cervix. In larger quantities they may be used at a distance from the body, the rays passing through an opening in the container into the cancerous growth.
   

• How effective is surgery?
  Surgery is most effective in the early stages when cancer has not yet spread. Major advances in plastic and reconstructive surgery, and anaesthesiology have ensured a very high degree of success.
   

• What is chemotherapy?
  Chemotherapy implies treatment with anticancer drugs and injections. Today we have a large number of highly effective drugs for cancer control.
   

• Can the spread of cancer be stopped or retarded temporarily?
  At times only. Certain types of cancerous growths, which can not be expected to be curable, may be controlled temporarily by proper treatment. Sooner or later, however, these growths may fail to respond to further treatment.
   

• What should you do if you think you may have cancer?
  Report at once for a thorough physical examination.
   

• Is cancer curable?
  More than 80% of cancers today are completely curable if treated early. At times, however, cures have been obtained after the cancers have been present for a long time. The type of cancer always has an important bearing on its curability.
   

• Is it ever possible to state that a cancer has been completely cured? If so, how much time must pass before the "cure" is recognized?
  After a cancer patient has been treated and has remained free of recurrence of disease for a period of five years, the chances for reappearance of the tumor are extremely small. (In a few rare instances however cancer has recurred ten or twenty years later, so that a semi-annual physical examination is a must for cancer patients).
   

• If you have been cured of cancer, can you develop another cancer? In the same place? In some other part of the body?
  Yes. Regardless of a patient's past medical history, including the successful treatment of a previous cancer, he/she should be examined at regular intervals. Because of the tendency for cancer to  reappear at the place of a previously existing growth or nearby, a patient should have a regular follow-up at least every six months. A new cancer may also appear at in another part of the body.
   

• Is there any known vaccine cure for cancer?
  No. A vaccine is of value only against a disease due to a germ. Cancer is not caused by a germ; therefore, serums are of no value in its treatment.
   

• Is it ever safe to rely on salves to "cure" cancer?
  No. No a paste or salve can not penetrate the tissues far enough to destroy deep-seated cancer cells.
   

• Is there any chemical that destroys cancerous tissue?
  There is some evidence that a few chemical substances such as the nitrogen mustards and other chemicals can destroy certain kinds of cancers. This treatment is known as chemotherapy.
   

• Will hormones cure cancer?
  There is evidence today to indicate that treatment with certain hormones may prolong life, and alleviate pain and suffering in certain breast and uterine cancers and in prostate cancers.
   

• What is Immunotherapy?
  Immunotherapy is new development based on the theory that the human body can be taught to defend itself against diseases including cancer.
   

• What is the latest and most successful of the recently reported cancer treatments?
  While many "cures" are constantly being evaluated by various laboratories, surgery, X-ray treatment, and chemotherapy remain the chief weapons in the physicians' fight to cure cancer. Certain hormones and isotopes also offer some promise of assistance in their fight but it is much too early to claim that they can be called 'cures".
   

• Is any real process being made in cancer research? Along what lines?
  Real progress is being made in cancer research, which has thrown much new light on normal and abnormal growth processes. However, the goal of finding the cause of cancer and thus its prevention is still in the future. Various avenues of investigations have recently opened up on all sides: in chemistry by a study of the hormones and chemicals and the complex role they play in cancer; in physics by application of radioactive materials and the development of X-rays of very high voltages; in surgery by more radical excision of tumors; and of through a study of enzymes, genetics, nutrition, cytochemistry, etc. Scientific disciplines of various types are being utilized to study the complex nature of cancer.
   

• What are your chances of getting cured?
  More than 80% of the patients treated adequately in the early stages can be cured. Your chances of recovery are excellent, if you report for treatment very early after cancer has arisen.
   

• Can you lead a normal life after cancer?
  The sooner you come for treatment, the better the quality of life after cancer. Most cancer patients can return to their normal lives, even during treatment.