Treatment Once the diagnosis of cancer is made, methods are used to clinically stage the tumor in order to determine the choice of treatment. There are three goals of cancer treatment: to cure, to control, or to provide palliative care (Porth, 2015, p. 148). These goals can be achieved using surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, and/or biotherapy. Depending on the size of the tumor and the margins, surgery can help excise a tumor. It can also be used to diagnose, stage, or provide palliation when a cure is not possible. Radiation therapy is also another modality of treatment that involves ionizing radiation, which causes cellular damage. The primary reason for going with this treatment option is “derived from the fact that the rapidly …show more content…
A common therapy patients undergo is chemotherapy, a systematic approach to treating cancerous cells. It is commonly used to treat hematologic and some solid tumors. Chemotherapy uses cancer drugs that are toxic to all cells, but especially rapidly proliferating cells. Often times, however; resistance is a problem that develops, as well as a long list of unpleasant side effects. Even handling or administering the drugs are carcinogenic. Because cancer cells utilize hormonal signals, hormone and antihormone therapy are another treatment modality that is used to suppress the circulating hormone levels or alter the receptor function. Lastly, biotherapy and targeted therapy are also approaches to treating cancer. Biotherapy utilizes monoclonal antibodies, cytokines, and adjuvants to change “a person’s immune response” and modify “tumor cell biology” (Porth, 2015, p. 148). On the other hand, targeted therapy is a newer approach in which the development of drugs that specifically “attack malignant cells while leaving normal cells unharmed” is being researched. An example of targeted therapy is designing a drug that can disrupt “molecular signaling pathways, such as those that use the protein tyrosine kinases” (Porth,