TESTICULAR CANCER TREATMENT
Categories: Uncategorized | November 14th, 2007 | by admin | no comments
Testicular cancer treatment differs depending on the severity of the cancer, how far it has spread and the tumors are placed in three groups, which treatment is based; good prognosis, intermediate prognosis, and poor prognosis. There are three methods for treating testicular cancer, which are chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and surgery. Risks of using methods for testicular cancer treatment have been known to cause infertility.
Good prognosis must meet the conditions that the tumor is only in the testicle or behind the abdomen, hasn’t spread to any organs beside the lungs. in addition, the tumor marker levels are slightly above normal. The only difference with the intermediate prognosis is that the tumor marker level is more than slightly above normal. Poor prognosis means the cancer or tumor is in the center of the chest and has spread to numerous organs and the tumor marker is high. In the cases of poor prognosis, there is slim chance of recovery and it is usually too late.
The first method of testicular cancer treatment is surgery. The doctor will perform surgery in hopes to remove the testicle with the tumor and any other parts of the body the cancer has spread to. Even if the doctor thinks they removed all of the cancer, to be sure, they are killing all cancer cells; the doctor might recommend radiation therapy or chemotherapy. Which brings us to the next form of testicular cancer treatment, radiation therapy. This form uses radiation to kill off existing cancer cells by way of radiation through x-rays. Radiation therapy can be internal or external. The next form of treatment for testicular cancer is chemotherapy. This is when the doctor prescribes pills with chemicals that are designed to kill the cancer growth cells, stopping them from growing or splitting. Because when cancer grows, it splits and multiplies.
A form of testicular cancer treatment that is currently under research is high doses of chemotherapy with stem cell transplant. This method is under research and is not practiced yet today.
There are many forms of testicular cancer treatment. All treatment for most types of cancer depends on the stage of the cancer and if it has spread to vital organs in the body. Treatment for cancer is never a guarantee that it will not come back and that you are cured forever.