The Approach to Care of Cancer
Cancer is one of the most problematic and dangerous diseases in the modern world, and it does not really depend upon either age or ethnicity or religion of an individual. All people are afraid to be diagnosed with cancer. Cancer could start in any part of human body. Bad and toxic cells start to grow and unite into one crowded corrupted cell, which the human body is not able to cope with. The paper will continue considering diagnosis and staging of care, complications of the disease and possible side effects of the treatment, finally focusing upon approaches to cancer care.The Approach to Care of Cancer
Diagnosis and staging of cancer
Cancer is difficult to diagnose. There are a lot of types of cancer, cancer could start in one or multiple organs at a time and it is able to spread. Correct diagnosis is certainly the first step towards corresponding staging and treatment of cancer. In case a doctor obtains the results of screening test, which suggest cancer, he would continue to investigate the causes of these results. In this case lab tests, scans and other tests are ordered. In case the lab tests show that there are either high or low levels of certain substances in human body, then it could be interpreted as a cancer threat. Lab tests are applied in order to find those substances in blood, urine or other body fluids. Lab tests are important, but doctors do not rely purely upon their results, when they are to diagnose cancer. There is a list of imaging procedures, which help to create pictures of certain areas of the body so that the doctors could see where the tumor is present. Such pictures are made with the help of nuclear scan, CT scan, MRI, ultrasound, X-Ray, PET scan. Often doctors also do biopsy in order to diagnose cancer. Biopsy is the procedure of removing of a sample of tissue from the patient. Then this sample is passed to a pathologist for further check with the help of a microscope. Doctors make biopsy, using different methods. Tissue or fluid could be withdrawn with a needle. Endoscope, which is a thin and lighted tube, could be used for looking inside the body of the patient. It is inserted in natural opening, usually mouth, and then the tissue is removed with the help of special tools. Excisional or incisional surgery is one more method for biopsy. In the first case the complete tumor is removed and even some good tissues around it. In the second case only some part of the tumor is removed by the surgeon.
Staging of cancer is the process of obtaining the information about how much cancer is actually in the patient’s body and the concrete locations of it. This is the way for a doctor to determine the stage of cancer for a concrete patient. “For most types of cancer, doctors use staging information to help plan treatment and to predict a person’s outlook (prognosis). Although each person’s situation is different, cancers with the same stage tend to have similar outlooks and are often treated the same way. The cancer stage is also a way for doctors to describe the extent of the cancer when they talk with each other about a person’s cancer.” (Cancer Staging, 2014). Staging should be performed before the treatment process starts. The main types of staging are clinical staging and pathologic staging. Clinical staging is “an estimate of the extent of the cancer based on results of physical exams, imaging tests (x-rays, CT scans, etc.), and tumor biopsies. For some cancers, the results of other tests, such as blood tests, are also used in staging.” (Cancer Staging, 2014). The clinical stage is utterly important for taking the decisions about the best appropriate treatment in each single case and also it serves the basis for judging the response to treatment. If surgery is performed, doctors have the opportunity to determine the pathologic stage or the surgical stage. The pathological state is related to the results of the previous tests and exams along with the new information about cancer obtained during surgery. Surgery could be done with the aim to remove the tumor and the nearby lymph nodes or in order to take out the samples of the tissue. The pathologic stage could be different from the clinical stage. It could happen in case the cancer managed to spread more in comparison to the initial expectations. The information, provided by the pathologic case, is usually more precise.The Approach to Care of Cancer
Complications of cancer
Complications of cancer could be different by all patients, however there are common complications, for example pain, weight loss and unusual immune system reactions to cancer. Certainly the list of possible complications is much longer, but these three are the vivid examples of how cancer complications could impact the life of the patient. Pain is the most widespread complication of cancer and it could also be the result of cancer treatment procedures. Not all types of cancer are painful, but if patient suffers from pain, this is a strong stress for his or her body, which is rather difficult to handle. Thus pain management is important for most of cancer patients and it is prescribed to them along with other alternatives. Weight loss is also a cancer complication, which could be traced by many patients. It could be the result of cancer as well as of cancer treatment. Cancer takes food from normal cells, and they are not able to obtain the needed amount of the nutrients. This problem is usually not solved either with the help of the amount of calories or the type of food, consumed by patient. Finally, it becomes a severe problem and in some cases the doctors are forced to use a gastronomy tube for artificial nutrition. In case the stomach of the patient does not perceive this option, then total parent nutrition is done through the vein. The third complication of cancer, mentioned here is unusual immune system reactions to the disease.
The immune system reacts already to the fact of cancer presence, as the healthy cells suffer. The attack upon the healthier cells is called paraneoplastic syndrome. This syndrome does not belong to common reactions and is the case of various symptoms, impacting the neurological situation of the patient, who experiences problems with walking or suffers from seizures.
Side Effects of Treatment
Cancer and cancer treatment cause a ranger of side effects. Usually these side effects include: neutropenia, the state, when patients are inclined towards getting an infection, nausea and vomiting, problems with remembering things, hair loss, lyphedema, the state, when the lymph fluid does not drain and causes swelling. Pain is the most severe side effect of cancer treatment.The Approach to Care of Cancer
Methods to lessen physical and psychological effects
Patients, diagnosed with cancer, are mostly the victims of physical and psychological pressure and distress. Managing the symptoms, the side effects of cancer and its treatment are great challenges for most patients and they need to put great efforts into it. Certainly the appropriate choice of the methods for coping with these problems could contribute to patients’ well-being. Patients with cancer often experience fatigue due to the peculiarity of the disease and its treatment. This type of fatigue could not be compared to usual feeling tired after a hard working day, cancer fatigue seizes suddenly, and moreover it could mostly be not managed with the help just taking a break. In case of cancer resulted fatigue remaining active is the best alternative. The psychological effects of cancer are traced by most patients, everybody is afraid to hear the diagnosis and finds it difficult to gather the moral strength to cope with the disease and negative perspectives, it brings. Patients are advised to look for different approaches to life, to focus upon some different things, not related to their disease. Often building or reinforcing of the emotional bonds with close people and family members could help the cancer patients feel psychologically better. In some cases they are advised to participate either in individual or in group or family kinds of therapies. The most difficult thing for cancer patients is to adjust their life views to the current situation and make them still perceive the things from the positive side. They should be made aware of the fact that they are not able to change the things, but could change their own attitude to the situation and their state of health. Certainly all patients are different and they have different characters and life positions, which demands individual approach to treating of their psychological problems, caused by cancer and cancer treatment. In addition sometimes family members of the patient also need care and support for managing the situation. Palliative care is considered to be a good approach to helping cancer patients. It is provided with the aim to improve the quality of their lives, supporting their positive psychological state. Patients could be provided with palliative care either at hospitals or at home.
References:
Approach to Cancer Care. (2018). The Cancer Center. Retrieved from http://www.tcchsv.com/approach_to_care.aspx
Cancer Staging. (2014). National Cancer Institute. Retrieved from http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/detection/staging
The Approach to Care of Cancer