Corel Medical Series: Cancer/Corel Medical Series: Cancer.iso/pc/program/p07.dxr/00029_SRC.p07.C.4.txt

Text File | 1997-02-04 | 1.4 KB | 15 lines

chemotherapy is given before surgery or radiation therapy , and is then called neoadjuvant therapy.

What Chemotherapy Can Achieve  There are four possible results of chemotherapy given for visible or known areas of cancer.
• Complete remission The tumor may seem to disappear completely, meaning that there is a complete response
  to the drugs. This clearly indicates the treatment is working, though it has to continue for a while so any
  "hidden" cancer cells will be destroyed. Current detection methods can miss an internal tumor smaller than
  1 cm (0.4 in.), and if treatment is stopped too soon there is a high chance for a relapse.
      Some remissions, especially for very responsive tumors, may be permanent. Others are temporary, lasting
  for months or even years. But then the tumor reappears or begins to grow again. Complete remission,
  therefore, is not necessarily the same as a cure. "Cure" usually means the lack of any sign of cancer for at least
  five years, but how it's defined really depends on the kind of cancer being treated and on the individual patient.
• Partial remission The tumor may shrink by more than half its size but not disappear. This is obviously a
  good result, but therapy has to be continued until the tumor either completely disappears or stops shrinking.
  If it simply stops shrinking, the drug program may be changed or surgery or radiotherapy may be used to try
  to wipe out the remaining tumor cells.