Cancer is one of the deadliest diseases that has resulted in the loss of many lives. But, you have different treatment options to cure or control cancer. These treatments aim to improve the quality and quantity of a cancer patient. Scientists are trying for several decades to find the most effective method to treat the deadly disease. Before going into the details of the treatment options, you need to know what cancer is. Cancer refers to the disease occurring as a result of cellular changes occurring in the body. It results in the uncontrolled growth as well as the division of cells. These cells accumulate and hinder the normal function of the body.
Chemotherapy Vs Targeted Therapy
The advanced technology has paved the way for innovative research, which has resulted in the development of new treatment technologies to cure or manage the growth of malignant cells. In normal cases, the doctors usually suggest treatment based on the cancer type, stage, and the overall physical health of the patient. Do you know that cancer treatment achieved two major milestones with the development of radiation therapy (1900) and chemotherapy (1940)? Today, you also have the option of targeted therapy. Want to know the difference between chemotherapy and targeted therapy? Read ahead.
When the doctor provides you chemotherapy drugs, it interferes with the malignant cell’s ability to grow and multiply. In simple words, the chemo drugs destroy the malignant cells and avoid its growth as well as spread. Unfortunately, these drugs not just attack the cancerous cells, but also the normal cells. The drugs mainly work by targeting the ability of the malignant cells to replicate their DNA (that helps growth and multiplication). But, your normal body cells (for example, the cells in the digestive tract) that require replication are also destroyed with chemotherapy. It leads to having severe side effects. Your doctor combines chemotherapy with radiation or surgery for better results. In advanced-stage cancer, chemotherapy slows the growth and spread of malignant cells. Your doctor can also suggest it to reduce the risk of cancer recurrence.
Targeted therapy tries to overcome the limitations of chemotherapy. So, the therapy targeted the cells with cancer-specific activities and avoids the normal cells. The therapy tries to detect the cancer cells by detecting the presence of gene mutations, resulting in cell growth. So, the doctor provides a drug to slow or shut down the specific protein or molecular pathway triggering the growth and spread of cancer. It destroys malignant cells. It leaves the normal cells alone and only focuses on malignant cells. The drawback of the treatment is that it cannot work for all types of cancers as they may not have a pathway to target. Since blocking a single pathway of the cancer cell may only slow it down and not kill it, the doctors use the therapy along with chemotherapy for better results.
Your doctor can only decide the right type of treatment needed to destroy the cancerous cells. So, your doctor decides the type of treatment based on the diagnosis of the patient. All the therapies have side effects. Scientists are trying to find better treatment options offering better results.
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