Depending on the stage of cancer that someone has, different types of treatment are given. The most common forms of treatment are chemotherapy and radiation. Today I decided to go in-depth to look at the various different type of treatments.

1. Surgery

Through surgery the surgeon removes the cancer from the body. Surgery doesn't always involve sharp tools and knives.

Cryosurgery:

During this treatment liquid nitrogen is used to destroy the abnormal tissue (that is dividing uncontrollably). This type of surgery is used to treat early stage skin cancer, retinoblastoma (cancer that forms in the tissue of the retina), precancerous growth (it may or may not be cancerous).

Laser:

Lasers are used to destroy tumors or growths that have the potential to turn into cancer. The powerful light beams from the laser can focus accurately on small areas. Lasers are mainly used on the surface of body or on the inside lining of organs.

Hyperthermia:

With this treatment small areas of the body are exposed to extremely high temperatures. This high heat works in two ways; one is the high heat can kill off cancer cells. Another way is it makes the cancer cells more sensitive to radiation and chemotherapy drugs.

Photodynamic Therapy:

This therapy uses drugs that only react with a certain type of light. When the tumor is exposed to the light, the drugs from this therapy are activated and kill nearby active cells. This therapy is often used to relieve symptoms caused by skin cancer.

Surgery is the best option if the tumor is in one place. Surgery helps cancer in various ways. One is it can remove an entire tumor. Another way is it has the ability to remove an entire tumor that can damage an entire organ. Last but not least it can reduce the symptoms since it removes the tumor causing a lot of pain.

One of the disadvantages of surgery is that it is very expensive. Your body is prone to infection, bleeding, and depending on the individual they can have different reactions to anesthesia.