The Approach to Care of Cancer

The Approach to Care of Cancer
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Introduction
Cancer is one of the deadliest diseases afflicting the current generation. Its threat emanates from the difficulty and cost of its treatment. So far, it results to the deaths of many people, especially those who cannot afford the exorbitant medical costs associated with it. The disease is caused by the malformation or mutation of the body's cells, thereby resulting to the development of cancerous cells. There is still no solid proof as to the cause of cancer, although it is believed that carcinogenic compounds result to the formation of free radicals within the body's cells, which in turn result to the growth of these cancerous cells. Cancer can affect virtually every part of the body since it is as a result of cell malformation. From this therefore, there are numerous types of cancer, with the most common ones being skin, prostate, cervical, blood, and mouth cancer. This paper will look at all the processes involved in dealing with cancer, including staging, its complications, side effects as well as ways to minimize these effects.
The diagnosis and staging of cancer.
Most of the cancers are usually diagnosed during routine medical checkups and screening exercises. Such tests are usually done at regular periods, or after certain periods of time. Cancer is therefore discovered based on the symptoms that an individual reveals to his or her healthcare professional (Davis, 2015).The first point in the diagnosis of cancer is usually a look through one's medical history and a physical evaluation. This usually involves the healthcare expert going through the patient's history to check out the symptoms he or she possesses. It will involve doing a number of tests so as to ascertain with much clarity, the type, location and extent of the cancer within the person's body (Davis, 2015).Other tests that might be conducted for the sake of clarification include blood count and measurement of the electrolyte levels.
There are scientific ways in which the expert can know whether a growth is cancer or not. MRI, CT scanning, X-Rays and ultrasounds are the most popular and widely used to do this. Endoscopy on the other hand, provides a more visual approach, since it helps in viewing the inner parts of the alimentary canal, to ascertain the points of growth and whether these growths are cancerous. There are other places within the body however, that cannot be easily visualized by any of these methods. This is where radionuclide testing comes in.
In this procedure, a weak radioactive substance is ingested or injected into the body of the patient. These substances will then move and get concentrated in the areas where there is a malformation of tissues. In this manner therefore, the cancerous cell will have been detected. When these cells are taken, they are usually good pointers to the existence of cancer in the body. However, the observation of such lesions or cell lumps isn't enough proof for the existence of cancer. A more detailed analysis, which involves the examination of these tissue samples by a pathologist through the process of cell biopsy, is important. This then gives rise to the cancer staging.
Cancer staging is the process through which ...