Multidisciplinary or Multifaceted Approaches to Cancer Care

Approach to Care
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Approach to Care
Introduction
A multidisciplinary or a multifaceted approach to cancer care has been shown to be necessary in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer patients (Ko & Chaudhry, 2002). Besides treating cancer, there are a number of non-cancer issues that need to be considered including health behaviors, coexistent illnesses and preventive measures to improve the patients’ quality of life. With the emerging treatments and novel technologies, approach to cancer care has increasingly become complex and comprehensive and this has significant benefits to patients by providing accurate diagnosis, staging and conclusive treatment. Some of the new technologies that have enabled this change include molecular therapies, robotics and other new treatment methods. Patient-centered care approach has also been lauded in providing individualized treatment, patient empowerment, improved communication, and fast and coordinated care (Cancer Treatment Centers of America, 2017). These new approaches have seen a change in kidney and bladder cancer diagnosis and staging as well as changes in the treatment plans for testicular, prostate, kidney and bladder cancer (UNC School of Medicine, 2010). In this paper, diagnosis and cancer staging, complications of cancer, the side effects resulting from treatment and the modalities to reduce the psychological and physical effects of cancer will be discussed.
Diagnosis and Cancer Staging
Cancer patients often present with a number of symptoms with most of them not related to cancer, but other complications or due to benign tumors (National Comprehensive Cancer Network, 2017). Physical examinations and other procedures or tests are done to confirm the cause of symptoms. Staging is carried out to establish the extent of the growth within tissues. Some cancers can be staged using histological tests, blood tests and the risk factors. Staging is often carried out twice: before treatment or clinical staging and after treatment or pathological staging. The American Joint Committee on Cancer maintains a system of staging commonly used by doctors known as the TNM. TNM system describes different areas of growth, with T denoting tumor, N denoting nodes and M representing metastasis. Each form of cancer has its unique stage groups depending on where it has spread or grown. There are 4-5 groups per every cancer and these groups are denoted using the Roman numerals beginning with 0 or stage I and ending with stage IV (National Comprehensive Cancer Network, 2017). Patients meeting a certain stage group criteria will have similar prognosis or disease outcome, with earlier stages having better prognosis. However, since doctors define the stages from information obtained from thousands of patients, thee stages only offer average outcomes and may not provide an accurate outcome for one patient.
Complications of Cancer
Cancer patients experience a number of complications, with some caused by the disease itself and the treatment administered. For instance, while not all cancers can be said to be painful, pain is most common complication related to cancer and cancer treatment (Mayo Clinic Staff, 2017). Administering pain medications or other appropriate approaches can help relive cancer-related pain. Fatigue also presents itself among cancer patients and many causes have been attached to fatigue, including radiation and chemotherapy treatment. The disease and its treatment can also cause patients to lose weight. Cancer is known to deprive normal cells of their nutrients and artificial nutrition has shown little success in dealing with weight loss among patients (Mayo Clinic Staff, 2017. There is also a common change in chemical composition in the body. Cancer upsets the normal chemistry and increases chances of patients developing other serious complications. Some common signs of chemical imbalance include frequent urination, excessive third, confusion and constipation. In some cases, the patient’s immune system can react to cancer by attacking its own normal cells. This condition is known as the paraneoplastic syndrome (Mayo Clinic Staff, 2017). While rare, this syndrome can result in a number of symptoms such as seizures and difficulties in walking.
Side Effects of Treatment
Cancer treatments have been found to cause a host of side effects, but these effects vary from one patient to the other even when similar treatments are administered. Factors such as age, frequency or ...