What Are The Best Treatments For Cervical Cancer
Being diagnosed with cervical cancer is hard, but with a great support system and with the great treatments we have available today, the success rate for cervical cancer is higher than ever before. Cervical cancer is the easiest type of cancer to detect and treat because we are so knowledgeable of what causes the cancer and we know how to detect it early. There are so many treatments available, but if you read this article you can find the best treatment for you! The early stages of cervical cancer are called noninvasive cancer. This means that the cancer has not yet reached the inside layers of the skin, so there is no need for chemotherapy or radiation, just simply surgery. A cone biopsy, or a conization, is where your doctor would remove the abnormal cells or tissues by using a scalpel. The piece of cervical tissue removed is in the shape of a cone, hints to its name. A simple hysterectomy is another surgery you could choose to have done, but most women do not want to do this because it removes their cervix and uterus, and the precancerous and cancerous spots. There are other options that are not necessarily surgery, more like treatments, while they are still called surgeries though. Laser surgery kills cancerous and precancerous cells with a narrow beam of intense light. Cryosurgery freezes and kills precancerous and cancerous cells. Loop electrosurgical excision procedure (LEEP) is used to remove cells from the opening of the cervix. It cuts like a knife, but really it is simply electricity passing through a wire loop. Now if you are in a higher stage and are suffering from invasive cervical cancer, your options of treatment are much more complex. You can choose to have surgery, radiation, or chemotherapy. One type of surgery option is a radical hysterectomy. This removes the cervix, uterus, part of the vagina, and lymph nodes. Doctors generally do this when there is a cancer invasion that is greater than 3 mm (invasive cancer). Doctors perform the hysterectomy because it will prevent the cancer from coming back, but the down side is, the women can no longer become pregnant, plus there are many side effects, one being early menopause. Radiation therapy is another choice that you can use separately, or in addition to surgery. Radiation therapy is much like light therapy, but more intense. It uses high-powered energy to kill the precancerous and cancerous cells. Radiation therapy can be given externally or internally, depending on the severeness of your cervical cancer and your preference. For women with invasive cancer and in higher stages, radiation and chemotherapy may be combined as well. Chemotherapy is when anti-cancer medications are injected into a vein, and then they kill any quickly growing cell in your body, which includes cancer cells and hair cells. The drug often combined with radiation therapy is called cisplatin, and these to methods combined are considered the best treatment for advanced, invasive cervical cancer.
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