Understanding Stage 4 Breast Cancer Chemotherapy
by Farrah John
One of the top diseases in the cancer department is breast cancer. Like many lifestyle diseases, breast cancer incidence continues to rise.
One of the most devastating news for cancer sufferers is a diagnosis of stage 4 breast cancer. What does it really mean to have stage 4 breast cancer?
The cancer stage is a measure of how far the cancer has spread throughout the body. It is helpful to know that cancer happens when our body cells lose the normal control in division or multiplying themselves and they tend to spread to other organs. When these rapidly dividing cells have reached a different organ, it is said to have spread or metastasized.
A cancer that has a higher number for staging has a lower chance of survival and cure. This mechanism must be stopped or halted through the use of many therapies. Perhaps one of the most well known therapy against cancer is chemotherapy.
Is chemotherapy effective at curing your cancer?
In chemotherapy, chosen medicines are used and combined to provide an effect that can kill the rapidly dividing cancer cells. No matter how different mechanism of actions used in these medications, they all aim to eradicate the cancer cells. Cancer that has reached stage 4 would be impossible to remove through surgery. Thus, chemotherapy that can go through the bloodstream is used in the malignant types of cancer.
Can there be unwanted side effects from chemotherapy for stage 4 breast cancer?
Like any other therapy, there are inherent risks in using chemotherapy for stage 4 breast cancer. It was never pictured as a perfect science and there are many side effects associated with its use. Loss of hair or alopecia is one of the most known side effects that can result from chemotherapy. This happens because many of the drugs used in chemotherapy can locate defective or cancerous cells by identifying if they divide in a more rapid way than normal. This action makes it attack any cells within the body that is dividing faster than normal. The down side is that it also attacks the normally rapid dividing cells like those in the hair. The chemotherapy medications do not differentiate the normal rapidly dividing hair cells from the abnormal cells with cancer. This makes alopecia or hair loss an inevitable side effect from chemotherapy. There are also other side effects from chemotherapy such as stomach ache, vomiting, fatigue, etc.
Just found out I have <a href="http://stage4breastcancer.net/">Stage 4 Breast Cancer</a> .
by Farrah John
One of the top diseases in the cancer department is breast cancer. Like many lifestyle diseases, breast cancer incidence continues to rise.
One of the most devastating news for cancer sufferers is a diagnosis of stage 4 breast cancer. What does it really mean to have stage 4 breast cancer?
The cancer stage is a measure of how far the cancer has spread throughout the body. It is helpful to know that cancer happens when our body cells lose the normal control in division or multiplying themselves and they tend to spread to other organs. When these rapidly dividing cells have reached a different organ, it is said to have spread or metastasized.
A cancer that has a higher number for staging has a lower chance of survival and cure. This mechanism must be stopped or halted through the use of many therapies. Perhaps one of the most well known therapy against cancer is chemotherapy.
Is chemotherapy effective at curing your cancer?
In chemotherapy, chosen medicines are used and combined to provide an effect that can kill the rapidly dividing cancer cells. No matter how different mechanism of actions used in these medications, they all aim to eradicate the cancer cells. Cancer that has reached stage 4 would be impossible to remove through surgery. Thus, chemotherapy that can go through the bloodstream is used in the malignant types of cancer.
Can there be unwanted side effects from chemotherapy for stage 4 breast cancer?
Like any other therapy, there are inherent risks in using chemotherapy for stage 4 breast cancer. It was never pictured as a perfect science and there are many side effects associated with its use. Loss of hair or alopecia is one of the most known side effects that can result from chemotherapy. This happens because many of the drugs used in chemotherapy can locate defective or cancerous cells by identifying if they divide in a more rapid way than normal. This action makes it attack any cells within the body that is dividing faster than normal. The down side is that it also attacks the normally rapid dividing cells like those in the hair. The chemotherapy medications do not differentiate the normal rapidly dividing hair cells from the abnormal cells with cancer. This makes alopecia or hair loss an inevitable side effect from chemotherapy. There are also other side effects from chemotherapy such as stomach ache, vomiting, fatigue, etc.
Just found out I have <a href="http://stage4breastcancer.net/">Stage 4 Breast Cancer</a> .