Approach to care

APPROACH TO CARE OF CANCER Name Institution Affiliation Course Date of Submission Cancer Getting the right diagnosis shall pave way to getting the right treatment for cancer especially with considerations of timing when it comes to fighting any form of cancer. The management of disease at various stages varies due to the extent of the damage the tissues have undergone. It is therefore imperative to come up with the right diagnosis followed by proper treatment for the appropriate stage of the cancer. However, complications arise during the cause of treatment and there are a number of ways the side effects can affect the patients. These complications can however be lessened in order to reduce the psychology effects associated with them. This article addresses the diagnosis and staging of cancer, the complications associated with the disease as well as the side effects of the treatment. The various ways methods of treatment that can be used to lessen the physical and psychological effects are also discussed. Diagnosis In order for the doctor to determine whether or not it is cancer that is affecting a patient there are several things he can do. The process of performing a biopsy is the process that involves taking a sample tissue or cell from the affected area of the patient for laboratory histology. This process can involve an array of processes that can range from endoscopy, surgical biopsy to needle biopsy. Basically, the process of biopsy is the surgical sampling of tissue for laboratory microscopic testing in order to establish whether it is benign (non-cancerous) or malignant (cancerous) according to Andriole et al. (2011). Endoscopy: Involves the process of passing a tube that shall take pictures in the body and if possible allow the doctor to make the decision on whether to take samples of the tumor or suspected cancerous part in the body. This tube allows the doctor to have a look at what is going on the body as well. Needle Biopsy: This process involves the doctor sampling the tissue suspected and allowing it to suckle or sample the suspected area. Surgical Biopsy: In this type of biopsy, there are potentially two procedures; incisional and excisional biopsy. In excisional biopsy the doctor shall remove the entire tumor affected while the incisional biopsy the doctor just removes a part of the tumor and examines. The tumor can be removed immediately entirely if found cancerous or following a separate operation or surgery. In general, the biopsy shall provide the doctor with information on the extent to which the cancer has reached; the type of cancer; the tumor behavior as well as the rapidity at which it was going to grow or is currently growing. Staging After the doctor makes a proper diagnosis of the cancer, the doctor should ensure that he or she is aware of the stage or extent to which the cancer has spread. The level of destruction of the disease to the tissues of the body should be known immediately after diagnosis so that the treatment that follows is clearly tailored to the level of the damage of the tissues and cells of the body at that particular time or interval. This process and procedure is called staging (Edge & Compton, 2010). There are a number of stages in cancer and the common ones are: In situ: This is cancer that is too young and has not spread to any neighboring tissue. This has a considerably good chance to be completely cured than the rest of the stages. This is because the management required is not as demanding and easily available in as much as it is inexpensive. In general this stage is referred to as Stage 1 by many cancer practitioners and therapists. Local: This is a cancer that has been established to have only affected the organ within which it is found to have grown. This cancer carries a good prognosis and a potentially good chance of being completely cured and controlled compared to the following cancer stages. This stage is also referred to as Stage 2 in general. Regional: Also known as Stage 3, this is when the cancer has been found to have spread to neighboring tissues and surrounding lymph nodes then the stage can be said to be regional. Distant: This is cancer that has clearly spread to other systems of the body affecting several other organs to a considerably great extent. The level of cancer that has spread to far from the source of the tumor as described here is commonly known as stage 4 and this stage has the lowest prognosis chances with the possibility of curing or controlling it effectively being at its lowest compared to all the previous stages aforementioned. Since different cancers are caused differently, different stages of cancer may mean different things to the different forms of cancer. Take for example when the lymph node has been affected, it does not necessarily mean that that is the stage for all the cancers as already viewed in staging. This therefore means that the level of the...