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Types and Description of Skin Cancer
Nonmelanoma skin cancer
Squamous cell carcinoma (or squamous cell carcinoma) develops in the middle layers of the epidermis and accounts for 20% of all cases of skin cancer.
Usually appears in areas that have been exposed to the sun, like the top of the nose, ears, forehead, lip and back of hands.
You can also occur in areas of skin that have been in contact with chemicals, which have undergone radiotherapy, or have been burned. In the genital area, appears less frequently.
Generally tend to have a hard red bump. Sometimes it may look, scaly, or bleed and develop a scab that never heals. As will having enlarged nodular and sometimes presents a warty surface. In the end, it becomes an open sore and grows into the underlying tissue.
Through the lymph system can extend to any part of the body, although this rarely happens. It is a tumor with a tendency to grow and fall in the same place, once removed. But it tends to spread. Read the rest of this entry »
Cervical Cancer Treatments
There are treatments for all patients with cervical cancer. Uses three kinds of treatment:
* Surgery (taking out the cancer in an operation)
* Radiation therapy (high energy radiation to kill cancer cells).
* Chemotherapy (drugs or “poison” to kill cancer cells).
The cancer can be removed using any of the following:
*Cryosurgery involves the removal of the cancer by freezing.
*The laser surgery is the use of a beam of intense light to kill cancer cells.
*Conization is the removal of a piece of fabric into a cone shape in the location of the abnormality. It is used for biopsies, but also for the treatment of early cancers of the cervix.
*Electrosurgical excision (LEEP, an acronym in English) uses an electric current passes through a thin wire loop, which serves as a blade.
*A hysterectomy is an operation that removes the entire uterus, including all cervical cancer as well.
1.Histerectomia Vaginal. The uterus is removed through the vagina.
Stages of Cervical Cancer
The following stages are used in the classification of cervical cancer:
Stage or carcinoma in situ. Carcinoma in situ is very early cancer. Abnormal cells are found only in the first layer of cells lining the cervix, and do not invade deeper tissues of the cervix.
Stage I. Cancer involves the cervix but has not spread to the surroundings.
Ia: a very small amount of cancer, only visible under the microscope, is already in the deeper tissue of the cervix.
Ib: a greater amount of cancer in this tissue.
Stage II. The cancer has spread to nearby areas, but still in the pelvic area.
II-a: the cancer has spread beyond the cervix to the upper two thirds of the vagina.
II-b: The cancer has spread to tissue surrounding the cervix.
Stage III. The cancer has spread to the entire pelvic area. May have spread to the bottom of the vagina, or infiltrate the ureters (the tubes that connect the kidneys to the bladder).
Stage IV. The cancer has spread to other parts of the body.
IV-a: Spread to the bladder or rectum (organs close to the cervix)
IV-b: Spread to distant organs like the lungs.
Appellant. Recurrent disease (relapse) means the cancer has returned after having been treated. It can occur in the cervix itself or appear in another location.
Description of Cervical Cancer
Cervical cancer is a common type of cancer in women, and is a disease in which cells are cancerous (malignant) in the tissues of the cervix.
The uterus is the hollow organ, inverted pear-shaped, where a fetus grows. The neck or uterine cervix is an opening that connects the uterus to the vagina (birth canal).
Cervical cancer begins to grow slowly. Before appearing cancer cells in the cervix, normal tissues of the cervix go through a process known as dysplasia, in which abnormal cells begin to appear.
A Papanicolaou cytology usually find these pre-malignant cells. Later, cancer cells start to grow and spread more deeply into the cervix and surrounding areas.
Since there is generally no symptoms associated with cervical cancer usually involves a series of tests to diagnose:
*Papanicolaou cytology: is carried out using a piece of cotton, a brush or a small wooden spatula to gently scrape the outside of the cervix to collect cells. The patient may feel some pressure, which in some cases accompanied by pain.
*Biopsy. If abnormal cells are found, the doctor will remove a sample of tissue from the cervix and observe under a microscope for the presence of cancer cells. To perform a biopsy only need a small amount of tissue can be done in the doctor’s office. Sometimes you need to remove a biopsy sample cone-shaped, larger (cone), for which it may be necessary to go to hospital.
The prognosis (chance of recovery) and choice of treatment depend on the stage of the cancer (if only in the cervix or has spread to other places) and the general state of health.
Types of Brain Tumor Treatment
What is the treatment of brain tumors?
Are used anticonvulsants and corticosteroids as supportive therapy in some patients.
Definitive treatment includes surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy.
In low grade gliomas the recommended treatment is surgery and radiation. We recommend intermediate-dose radiotherapy (50 Gy) and has been shown that the administration of radiation therapy in the postoperative period does not increase the survival of these patients with respect to administered when the disease progresses, but increases the time in which the tumor is controlled.
In high grade gliomas treatment has demonstrated improved survival is the combination of surgery (when feasible), radiation at a dose greater than in low grade gliomas and chemotherapy.
The postoperative treatment component has been shown greater benefit for radiation and for this reason it is recommended to administer an adequate dose (60 Gy) in a confined volume of sophisticated techniques to exclude outside the radiation field the largest proportion of healthy brain tissue avoid toxicity.
This uses various innovative techniques such as three-dimensional radiotherapy formed, radiation therapy with intensity modulation of the beam and stereotactic techniques. They have incorporated new chemotherapeutic drugs that have shown activity (15-30% response) in high-grade tumors such as temozolomide, taxanes, irinotecan.
How to Diagnosis of Brain Tumor?
How is brain tumor diagnosed?
Suspecting a brain tumor, the imaging technique to be recommended is the MRI because it has better anatomic definition than CT and more precisely defines brain tumors.
The definitive diagnosis is made pathologically after resection or biopsy of the tumor. The latter must always be done if the tumor is unresectable or inoperable. It is true that in some cancer sites such as the brainstem biopsy is not recommended for the serious consequences that may result from it.
In cases of lung cancer, especially small cell melanoma and renal tumors is performed MRI to rule out brain metastases before starting the primary tumor treatment by the high probability of spreading to the brain.
There is a known metabolic PET scan (positron emission tomography) that is capable of measuring the behavior of the tumor (more or less aggressive) by the addition of glucose or other labeled molecules. In this diagnostic phase may be useful in directing biopsy to an area of high-grade features, or where biopsy is contraindicated in addition to information provided by brain MRI.
What are known prognostic factors in brain tumors?
The prognosis of patients with brain tumors are inversely correlated with age and histological grade and directly related to the patient’s clinical situation. Some molecular markers have been identified as prognostic factors (eg 1p19q deletion in oligodendrogliomas).
Causes of Brain Tumors
What kind of brain tumors are there?
Brain tumors can be primary tumors or metastatic tumors. Primary tumors originate from the very cells that make up the various brain structures and metastatic tumors are tumors that have spread to the brain from another location extracerebral.
The latter are 10 times more common than primary brain tumors is estimated that about 20-40% of cancer patients develop brain metastases.
Primary brain tumors are highly variable group of tumors with very different origin, prognosis and treatment.
They can range from very rare tumors such as pilocytic astrocytoma curable with surgery alone to glioblastoma multiforme virtually incurable despite treated with surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy.
What primary brain tumors are most common?
The primary tumor is the most common benign meningioma (tumor originated in the brain coverings called meninges). In adults, the most common primary malignant tumors are gliomas or astrocytomas. Gliomas arise from astrocytes or glial cells of the brain that form, together with the vascular network, the support of neurons. In turn, astrocytomas as less aggressive or more are classified as grade I, II, III (anaplastic astrocytoma) and IV (glioblastoma multiforme).
Types of Lymphoma Treatments II
* Radiation therapy: This treatment uses radiation (X-ray high energy) to destroy cancer cells. Usually this is a local treatment, ie the treatment is focused on only a part of your body where lymphoma.
* Transplantation: Sometimes high doses of chemotherapy destroy the lymphoma and to your bone marrow, which is the factory that produces blood cells. To help your bone marrow to produce new blood cells, a number of “stem cells” (stem cells, immature cells that were transformed into red blood cells, white and platelets) are derived from the bone marrow with a special machine, before chemo.
These cells are transplanted (returned) after your body. These transplanted cells will find the way to his bone marrow and restored so that it can produce new blood cells healthy.
There are two types of transplants:
* Autologous transplant – using your own bone marrow or stem cells.
* Transplant Allogenes – uses bone marrow or stem cells from a donor (usually a brother or sister).
Types of Lymphoma Treatments I
There are several kinds of treatment for lymphoma. The decision of which treatment to use depends on the type of lymphoma you have, the stage where it is (how many areas of your body are taken by ellinfoma) and general health status.
Ask these questions when deciding what treatment is appropriate:
* What type of treatment is best for me? (Chemotherapy, radiation therapy, biological therapy, transplantation)
* When should treatment start?
* Benefits (as the treatment can help)
* Risk (problems that may occur due to treatment)
Together, you and your doctor / a will make the decision as to which treatment (treatment) is the most optimal for you. Talk to your doctor or nurse and then as many questions about the different options for therapy.
Treatments for lymphoma include:
Biological Therapy: This treatment increases your body’s natural ability to fight cancer. This result is achieved by enhancing their immune system. There are several types of biological therapy:
* Monoclonal Antibodies: These are drugs such as Rituxan ®, which directly attack the lymphoma cells without damaging the cells are sometimes normales.A call these drugs “smart drugs” or “guided missiles” because they know exactly where to go in your body .
Types of Cancer Treatments II
*Taking advantage of the natural orifices of the body can do an endoscopy. In this technique uses a flexible Ttube on the end of a lens and a light, to image, and a device capable of taking samples of tissue.
Endoscopy changes its name in the body area to be explored: laryngoscopy (larynx), gastroscopy (stomach), colonoscopy (colon), cystoscopy (bladder), etc.
*For some endoscopies needed to make a small incision, if it is in the abdomen, one speaks of laparoscopy in the chest, thoracoscopy, etc..
*There are cases where the cancer screening practice with general anesthesia requires a large incision to directly view the area. It speaks of scans to open surgery.
The latest in surgery: laser, cold…
Some of the most innovative techniques in cancer surgery are applied to laser surgery, cryosurgery, electrosurgery, Mohs surgery and laparoscopic surgery.
*Laser surgery. The laser is a beam of light energy. In surgery is used for work requiring high accuracy. For example, to vaporize cancer cells in tumors of the cervix, larynx, liver, rectum, or skin (photoablation). It is also often applied in palliative surgery, for example, when a large tumor pressing the trachea or esophagus and cause difficulty breathing or swallowing.