Top

20

Doctor insights on: Cancer

Possible: But less than 20% survive 5 years. Depends on where the metastases are and how numerous and size. Solitary liver mets without evidence elsewhere in the body can be cured with a liver resection. Diffuse mets to numerous body parts rarelyare curable. ...Read more

Depends on stage: Chemotherapy is never used for stage 1 cancers (early). It is sometimes used in stage 2 cancers (early but more advanced than stage 1). Chemotherapy is definitely beneficial in stage 3 cancers (locally advanced) and in stage 4 cancers (distant spread). ...Read more

Uncontrolled growth: Cancer or malignancy, refers to uncontrolled growth of cells, invasion and destruction of normal tissues by these cells and spread to distant organs with damage to those organs. ...Read more

5 steps: 1. Maintain a healthy weight. Obesity increases your risk of breast cancer 2. Have babies and breast feed. These decrease your risk 3. Limit hormone therapy after menopause. 4. Decrease alcohol intake 5. Exercise - women who have regular physical exercise have a decreased risk of breast cancer. ...Read more

Not for early CA: Unfortunately , non to detect very early stages ca 125 , ca 19.9 , cea will be elevated at later stages, used to monitor the disease. Ca 72.4 cyfra 21.1 being tested .Scca (also for ca of cervix other squamous ca ). ...Read more

Rarely.: Some hereditary mutations may increase the risk of both breast and colon cancer. Nevertheless, the majority of all breast and colon cancers are not hereditary. ...Read more

In many ways: Cancers can spread in many ways- it spreads to distant organs through the blood vessels or through lymph nodes or along nerves. It can also spread locally by directly growing into surrounding organs. ...Read more

Heredity & diet: The cause is not known in most cases. In a small number the cause is clearly heredity, e.g., apc and hnpcc. In the garden variety colon cancer, a diet low in fiber and rich in fats may increase the risk of cancer. ...Read more

Pap smear: Have your pap smear done starting at age 21 and is the best thing you can do to prevent it. ...Read more

First question: Is whether treatment is necessary, depends on gleason score and psa. Treatment may not add value to you. Watchful waiting follows your psa #, rate of rise. If your gl >/= 7, psa > 10ng/ml, best option is radiotherapy, +/- anti-hormone. Get a few opinions. Do not act in haste. ...Read more

Yes: Yes. Many people are cured with colon cancer. If found early surgery alone may be curable. If more advanced (eg, lymph node involvement or metastatic = spread to areas outside of colon), then chemotherapy may be needed. While less likely, even a few % of people with metastatic colon ca may be cured. ...Read more

Newer with RT: Immunotherapy has had a resurgence in the past few years primarily in the treatment of melanoma. This is branching into other cancers. As a radiation oncologist, we are still exploring how best to integrate radiation treatments with immunotherapy. There is some promosing information that radiation or thermal ablation may help to potentiate the immunoresponse that immunotherapy causes. ...Read more

5 steps: 1. Maintain a healthy weight. Obesity increases your risk of breast cancer 2. Have babies and breast feed. These decrease your risk 3. Limit hormone therapy after menopause. 4. Decrease alcohol intake 5. Exercise - women who have regular physical exercise have a decreased risk of breast cancer. ...Read more

Leukemia is the most: Common; followed by central nervous neoplasms. The others are less common: lymphoma (hd and non-hd), wilm's of kidney, retinoblastom of the eye, neuroblastoma, rhabdomyosarcoma, osteosarcoma, ewings sarcoma, hepatoblastoma, dysgerminomas...There may be more, but they are less common than these! ...Read more

Not directly usually: There is debate about how closely these 2 cancers are related. Both have hereditary natures and are more common generally in obese patients. Both often begin with more benign precursor lesions like dcis for breast cancer and benign polyps for colon cancer. Both are very common but there is little evidence that having either predisposes to having the other. ...Read more

Sometimes: Typical pancreatic cancer (adenocarcinoma) is sometimes, but only rarely, curable. It is usually diagnosed in an advanced state making cure with surgery less likely. If relatively localized, chemotherapy and radiation therapy can improve survival time. ...Read more

Yes/no: It's one of the worst cancers and the cure rates are low. It also depends on the stage and location of the tumor. Some early detected cancers with a tumor location away from the duodenum and biliary pathways carry better prognosis than other types. Also, the longer the tumor doesn't give out metastasis, the higher the chance of cure. ...Read more