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CANCER
TREATMENT OPTIONS
The goal of cancer
treatment is to produce cure by removing the cause of the disease
while producing as little harm to the patient as possible. Given
that cancer cells originate from cells of the patient, the dilemma
of cancer therapy lies in selectively targeting and destroying
only the cancer cells and leaving the normal cells unharmed. For
this reason, most conventional cancer treatments (radiation and
many chemotherapeutic drugs) take advantage of the fact that malignant
tumors, unlike normal tissues of the body in which the cells are
most often in a resting state, have a higher fraction of cells
undergoing growth. Therefore, radiation and conventional anticancer
drugs work by interfering with DNA synthesis or function of dividing
cancer cells and usually do not kill normal, resting cells unless
they divide shortly after exposure to treatment. Because even
normal cells (particularly those composing the bone marrow and
the gastrointestinal lining) undergo regular division for replacement
of old cells, in many cases, cancer therapies provide only a narrow
window for safety and efficacy, and mild treatment toxicities
often occur. For this reason, new areas of cancer research have
explored more specific methods of targeting only cancer cells.
Such methods include development of new classes of drugs that
are directed to unique sites on cancer cells, as well as techniques
that specifically tag only cancer cells for destruction.
Different options
of treatment include:
- Surgery - to remove the malignant
tumor
- Radiation
- Chemotherapy
- Holistic Methods
What works best for your dog? That
question has to be answered by either your general practice vet
or an oncology specialist.
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