Health Issues is a general health based blog concentrating on multiple health topics. » Cardio & Blood- Сholesterol http://healthprodc.net From fighting cancer to fine tuning your overall look. We have it all! Sun, 24 Jul 2011 15:27:57 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.1 PREVENTION OF LOCAL RECURRENCE – RADIATION AFTER AN OPERATION http://healthprodc.net/2010/06/prevention-of-local-recurrence-radiation-after-an-operation http://healthprodc.net/2010/06/prevention-of-local-recurrence-radiation-after-an-operation#comments Wed, 02 Jun 2010 15:47:13 +0000 admin http://healthprodc.net/?p=77 Radiation after an operation is often recommended when it is either suspected or definitely known that cancer cells have been left behind. You will remember from the chapter on surgery that the chances of not being able to completely remove the cancer can be reduced by careful assessment before the operation. Postoperative radiation is more likely to be recommended after poorly planned than after carefully planned surgery. Radiation in this setting is also very unlikely to improve the cure rate. However, depending on the type and location of the cancer it can certainly reduce the chance of local recurrence. If this approach is recommended to you, ask what the chances of local recurrence are with and without radiation. Of course, if your surgeon knows that cancer cells are still there, local recurrence is certain if no other treatment is given. Find out how much the chance is likely to be improved by radiation and at what ‘cost’ to you. Are there any other ways of reducing the chance of local recurrence? Ask what difference it would make if radiation was reserved until the local recurrence occurred, instead of being given as a preventive. Would cure still be possible if you waited until you got a definite local recurrence? What symptoms could a local recurrence cause and how could they be treated? Don’t agree to the additional treatment unless you feel sure that the likely benefit is greater than the likely cost.
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Cancer
]]> http://healthprodc.net/2010/06/prevention-of-local-recurrence-radiation-after-an-operation/feed 0 PREVENTION OF LOCAL RECURRENCE – RADIATION TREATMENT http://healthprodc.net/2010/06/prevention-of-local-recurrence-radiation-treatment http://healthprodc.net/2010/06/prevention-of-local-recurrence-radiation-treatment#comments Wed, 02 Jun 2010 15:43:59 +0000 admin http://healthprodc.net/?p=74 Radiation treatment is often recommended before or after surgical removal of a primary cancer. It is important that you understand what can be gained by doing this.
Firstly, as I mentioned in the previous section, the addition of radiation to surgical removal of a primary cancer very rarely makes any difference to the chance of complete and permanent cure. However, it can make a difference to the chance that cancer will grow back again in the same place — local recurrence.
Radiation before an operation may be recommended if you have a large primary cancer that your surgeons feel they cannot completely remove. Their recommendation is based on the hope that shrinking your cancer by radiation could change it from one that is too large and extensive to be removed to one that can be removed completely. The fact is that a cancer that is too extensive to be removed can rarely be cured by any means, unless it is a type that is extremely sensitive to radiation or chemotherapy. It is also a fact that radiation, followed by a less extensive operation than would have been necessary to start with, is an approach that very rarely produces cures. It sounds like a good idea but unfortunately, it doesn’t work. I would question the radiotherapist and surgeon very closely indeed before agreeing to such a plan.
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Cancer
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