Prostate cancer is one of the most common type of cancer affecting 1 in every 6 males. In it’s early stages, prostate cancer has few symptoms and many of the symptoms associated with this disease are also symptoms found in other less serious illnesses. Prevalent symptoms of prostate problems which may or may not signal cancer include: frequent urination, bloody urine, burning urination, lower back pain or pain in the pelvis or upper thighs, blood in semen, pain during ejaculation, stopping and starting urination along with not being able to urinate. If the cancer is not causing any symptoms, then your physician may opt to simply keep and eye on it’s growth. This will entail a PSA blood test every few months as well as biopsies every year to see if and how fast it is growing. If it starts to grow faster, additional treatment may be recommended.
Some treatments for prostate cancer include:
A surgical procedure called a radical prostatectomy may be done to remove the cancer provided it has not spread outside of the prostate. The whole gland and surrounding tissue is removed in the hopes of removing all the cancer. Radiotherapy employs x-rays to treat cancer and is relatively pain free. Brachytherapy, is a method of radiotherapy on which something is implanted in the patient to treat the cancer. This method of treatment involves less visits to the hospital as opposed to radiation therapy (which is typically done every day) although it does require a little external radiotherapy also. Hormone therapy is used to lower the level of androgens which cause prostate cancer to grow. Chemotherapy is typically not effective against prostate cancer although newer drugs developed in recent years have shown the ability to relieve symptoms in men with advanced prostate cancer. Chemotherapy may be employed if the cancer has spread outside the prostate in order to shrink the cancer or slow it’s growth.
While many prostate symptoms indicate a problem other than cancer, it is vital that you see your doctor if you experience any of the symptoms listed above. Prompt treatment is your best chance for a cure. Lee Dobbins writes for http://prostate.health-webzone.com.
This is the second most common type of cancer in men, which can lead to death. However, with the improvement of medicine, survival rates in patients have improved considerably. Having family members with prostate cancer increases the risk of developing prostate cancer. Statistics show that African-American men have a higher risk of prostate cancer than Caucasian men. And of course, obese men are more prone to prostate cancer.
Other symptoms of advanced prostate cancer are complications in urinating like increase in frequency, interrupted flow, finding it difficult to stop or start urinating, presence of blood in the urine and the presence of pain and burning sensation. In a DRE, the physician tests for an enlarged prostate, lumps or any abnormal texture by inserting a lubricated and gloved finger into the rectum.
However, sometimes men with low PSA levels may contract prostate cancer; it all depends on the normal PSA level of a man. If it was always on the higher side, then there is not much to worry; this is why it is better to keep track of PSA levels. It can be surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, hormonal therapy or watchful waiting. Through hormonal therapy, the effect of male hormones like testosterone is blocked to inhibit the growth of cancer cells. However, this is not a cure; it just controls the disease.
With the surgical treatment, prostate glands and surrounding lymph glands are removed, depending on the severity of the condition. However this may cause hot flashes, loss of interest in sex, impotence and other problems in the patient. The doctor may also suggest chemotherapy where the patient is prescribed medication that is administered either orally or through injections.
However, since prostate cancer attacks older men, they are usually advised watchful waiting. This is best if the tumor is small, is expected a low growth rate or when medical treatment proves to be rather risky and may lead to death. The patient has to be monitored frequently with this treatment, but no treatment is administered. Jessica runs a respected natural male enhancement site, http://www.natural-penis-enlargment.com
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Mail this postThe pharmaceutical industry has come up with lots of chemotherapy drugs classified according to the chemical structure, the working principle and the possible associations with other medication. Most drugs are based on chemicals obtained from plants and this very origin or source leaves room to further classification. And, last but not least, one drug may be found in various categories as they may have several effects on the body of the patient. Medical science and professional competence in the health care realm involves a good knowledge of chemotherapy drugs and their specificity.
Alkylating agents is a first class of chemotherapy drugs worth mentioning. These drugs are pretty damaging to the bone marrow because they destroy the DNA to prevent the cancerous cells from reproduction. Lots of cancer cases get treated with this kind of chemotherapy drugs, with the mention that doses are always kept low because of the risk to develop leukemia up to ten years after the cessation of the treatment. Platinum based medication is classified together with alkylating agents because of the similarity in their action.
Antimetabolites are another distinct class of chemotherapy drugs. They are prescribed for the treatment of leukemia, breast tumors, ovary and intestinal cancers and they also interfere not only with the DNA but also with the RNA. The anthracyclines are another variety of chemotherapy drugs included into the antibiotic group. Their action is directed against enzymes that help in DNA replication which is why they prove efficient in a large number of cancer cases.
The category of inhibitors comes next. The topoisomerase inhibitors separate and copy the DNA strands efficiently treating leukemia. The mitotic inhibitors are more natural-based derived from plants and they help in preventing enzymes from producing proteins required in cell reproduction. However, there is one huge risk that patients take when following such a treatment: these chemotherapy drugs may cause peripheral nerve damage to mention only one of the health threats you may fear.
Finally, the corticosteroids represent chemotherapy drugs derived from hormones and designed to treat myeloma, lymphoma and leukemia besides other diseases. In addition to decreasing the cancer cellular growth, they also have a good impact on the way the body reacts to chemotherapy by preventing nausea, vomiting or other types of allergic reactions. These types of drugs may be used as chemotherapy ones or not, depending on the purpose they are supposed to serve.
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Mail this postCancer refers to the uncontrolled growth of cells combined with malignant behavior – invasion and metastasis. The cause for this disease is believed to be the interaction of environmental toxins and the genetic susceptibility. Basically, the principle that makes a chemotherapy drug functional is the impairment of the cellular division of tissues with a fast growth rate. The fact that these drugs destroy cells leads to their being named cytotoxic.
In broad general terms, chemotherapy kills cells by means of chemical substances. Particularly speaking, chemotherapy is used to kill the cells of micro-organisms or cancer. The most common chemotherapy drug regimen is made up from a combination of antineoplastic medication that represents the cytotoxic standardized treatment. Besides the reference to cancer treatment, chemotherapy also has an antibacterial dimension when it involves the use of antibiotics.
A chemotherapy drug, or better a combination of such drugs, functions by destroying cells that divide quickly. Unfortunately, these drugs cannot make a selection between normal fast-dividing body cells and cancer cells. These other cells that get attacked by a chemotherapy drug are digestive tract linings, the bone marrow and the hair follicles. These results on the normal rapid-dividing cells are the side effects of chemotherapy: alopecia – hair loss, myelosuppression – decreased production of blood cells, and mucositis – inflammation of the digestive tract.
Among the other uses of the chemotherapy drug and cytostatic chemotherapy agents there are the treatment of autoimmune diseases (multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis) and the suppression of transplant rejections. More modern cancer treatments known as targeted therapy use anti-cancer medication that attacks only the abnormal proteins in cancer cells.
Different classes of chemotherapy drug medication are available at present. Thus there are antimetabolites, alkylating agents, topoisomerase inhibitors, anthracyclines and several others. While all these chemicals interfere with the DNA structure, there are newer and revolutionary medicines like the tyrosine kinase inhibitors or the monoclonal antibodies that leave the nucleic acids unaffected.
These ones target a molecular abnormality in particular types of cancer such as gastrointestinal stromal tumors or chronic myelogenous leukemia. More special chemotherapy drug options only change the behavior of the tumor cells without affecting other tissues. From these so-called adjuvant therapies, the hormone treatment will be commonly used. Depending on the stage of the disease and the aim of the treatment, doctors will choose to administer one chemotherapy drug or a combination of drugs according to one or another of the existing strategies.
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Mail this postBy chemotherapy one generally refers to the drug combinations prescribed for the treatment of cancer or tumors. Many side effects of chemotherapy treatments are permanently reported by people undergoing a chemical intervention.
Hair loss or alopecia is one of the side effects of chemotherapy although we should not jump to the conclusion that any bald person has cancer. How is chemotherapy hair loss explained? Well, chemotherapy is a treatment based on very powerful medication that inhibits and destroys cells with a rapid growth rate.
The trouble is that the treatment is directed towards all the cells in the body that have this characteristic disregarding whether they are cancer cells or healthy cells. Thus, besides hair loss, other side effects of chemotherapy administration include skin decay and digestive problems, because both hair and soft membranes are constantly renewing themselves.
Even if these represent the side effects of chemotherapy that most people are familiar with, we may not know that alopecia is only temporary. Alopecia stops once the treatment is over. After a while, hair will start growing back but its texture and color may be a bit different from what you were used to having before.
There are a few side effects of chemotherapy to say the least, but their intensity could be reduced. You can prevent hair loss for instance by putting some cold compresses on the scalp and thus reduce the blood circulation in the area. As a result, the blood will not carry the drug to the hair follicles and this means that one’s hair will be protected from the damage of the drug.
All in all, side effects of chemotherapy remain numerous and doctors are still trying to reduce their number. Even if there may be solutions for a certain problem, lots of them still remain open to research. This means that you may be able to fight against alopecia because some drugs are more gentle with hair follicles, but this is not the case with all medications.
Mail this postWhat is oral chemotherapy? The term refers to the way of administering chemotherapy, namely taking chemo drugs by mouth. There are multiple ways of applying the principles of chemotherapy for the treatment of various health conditions. Nowadays, due to progress in cancer treatments and research, patients benefit from many different types of chemotherapy that can be taken in as tablet, liquid or capsule. Nevertheless oral chemotherapy refers to any drug administered by mouth. The health impact of pills remains identical to that of intravenous medication for instance, with the mention that they are more likely to trigger adverse reactions because of the impact on the digestive tract.
Some chemotherapy drugs can never be taken orally as they cannot be absorbed in the stomach or they can cause harm if swollen. So as to avoid side effects, many anti-cancer drugs are administered intravenously through a line. In the case of oral chemotherapy, the treatment has the advantage that the patient can follow it at home.
A good way to organize oral chemotherapy is in cycles of administration. Thus, risk of damaging normal healthy cells gets lower and the drugs only target the cancerous formations. Obviously, the doctor is the one who will decide how frequently (daily, weekly, monthly, etc) medication will be taken. Anyway, the anti-cancer treatment scheme proposed by the specialist ought to be discussed with the patient so that she/he may know what lies ahead in terms of challenges, difficulties and success rate. Only when one informed and convinced of the efficiency of the treatment, can one decide to begin it.
Even if oral chemotherapy drugs have a lower intensity in terms of adverse reactions and impact on the stomach, side effect do exist. Tiredness for a few days after beginning the treatment, nausea and vomiting, possible change in the amount of blood cells – anemia, lower capability of the blood to clot, diarrhea or constipation, flu-like symptoms, hair loss, increased risk of infection, kidney or bladder problems, mouth, gum and throat sores, pains, and nerve and muscle problems, are some of the long list of side effects of oral chemotherapy, just the same as those of any other form of chemotherapy treatments. For any of these side effects it is advisable that patients address their doctors for advice and help.
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