If detected earlier, cervical cancer is one of the most curable and preventable cancers.
There are many options available for the treatment of cervical cancer like surgery, radiotherapy, immunotherapy, chemotherapy, and combinations of these options. Your treatment depends upon several factors like the stage of your disease, your age, and your overall health.
If cancer is detected in the early stages, it has a reasonable success rate and as the cancer advances, the success rate tends to lower.
What are the early-stage treatment options?
When the cancer is in its early stage, it is confined to a particular cervix area. Therefore, surgery is the standard treatment method. Radiation therapy may also help you if your doctor suspects that cancer cells are present in your body. The benefit of radiation therapy over surgery is that it reduces the risk of recurrence. Also, it helps to shrink the tumor so that it becomes easier to operate.
What is the treatment for advanced cervical cancer?
When cancer spreads beyond the boundaries of the pelvis wall, your doctor does not usually prefer surgery. The advanced cervical stage of cancer requires more extensive treatment, which involves either radiation therapy, chemotherapy, or a combination of both therapies.
If the cancer is extensively spread and too late for surgery or therapies, your doctor provides palliative therapy. It helps to relieve symptoms and to improve the quality of your life.
Radiation therapy and Chemotherapy
Radiation therapy is also referred to as XRT. It involves using beams of high-energy X-rays to destroy cancer cells. You may face some side effects due to radiation therapy which may be seen only after your treatment is over, like diarrhea, nausea, irritation in the bladder, early menopause, narrowing of your vagina, and interrupted menstrual cycle.
Chemotherapy uses chemicals or medications to treat the disease. It helps in relieving your symptoms. You may experience side effects depending upon the dose and specific drug given to you, like diarrhea, nausea, infertility, early menopause, loss of appetite, kidney problems, and hair loss.
The doctor may also recommend targeted therapy that targets cancer-specific genes and proteins that lead to the growth of cancer and its survival. This treatment will block the growth and spread of the cancer cells.
Your doctor will run some tests to find an effective treatment for you. First, it helps identify the genes and proteins responsible for your tumor.
When cancer occurs even after your treatment, it is called recurrent cancer. When it spreads beyond the boundaries of your pelvis, called metastatic, it is treated with Platinum-based chemotherapy targeted therapy which FDA has approved to treat advanced cervical cancer.
Immunotherapy is also known as Biologic therapy. It is designed to boost your body’s natural immune defenses to fight cancer.
It uses materials to improve, target, and restore your immune system function. Different types of immunotherapy cause different side effects. You may experience side effects like skin reactions, flu-like symptoms, diarrhea.
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