Most common cancer's affecting women

Cancer is one of the leading causes of death for both men and women. However, there are some cancers that frequent most commonly among women. The reasons for this vary from cancer to cancer. It is yet to establish the reason behind this. There are women in India, who still do not have access to the proper medical care through which the early diagnosis of the cancer is possible. Let us read through the most common cancers among women.

Breast cancer

Breast cancer is the most common cancer amongst the women across the world. 14% of all cancer diagnoses are the patients of the breast cancer. Though studies suggest that the genetic factors could be the reason for the breast cancer, it is important for every woman to get tested for the breast cancer. There are several patients who are the first generation diagnosed with the breast cancer. Several campaigns are being conducted across the country to create the awareness. It is compulsory for the women who are above 25 to have the complete information on the breast cancer. Though breast cancer among men is not common, there are a few rare cases where male breast cancer is diagnosed.

Cervical Cancer

HPV or Human Papilloma Virus causes cervical cancer. Cervical cancer is the second most common cancer among the Indian women. However, the diagnosis of cervical cancer, particularly among the rural women, unfortunately, happens at the later stages.Cervical cancer is one of the most common cancers among Indian women which accounts for 10% - 12% of the new cancer cases diagnosed each year. However, its awareness is rather appallingly limited. Women who have crossed the age of 30 are recommended to get screened once in every 5 years for the early detection.

Stomach Cancer

Stomach cancer is another common cancer among the Indian women. According to the survey reports in 2013, 14- 16% of the cancer cases attributed to the stomach cancer in India. The stomach cancer is likely to show lethal effects due to late diagnosis. It is very important to consult the doctors and discuss if you find something out of routine.

Oral Cancer

There is a huge disparity between the number oral cancers in the world and in India. Indian women are more frequently diagnosed with the oral cancers compared to the women who are from the other nationalities. Oral cancer among the women in India accounts for 3% of the all the cancers diagnosed annually.

Though the numbers of the mortality rate of cancer diagnosed have gone up, chances of survival of the patients who are diagnosed early are higher compared to the patients who are diagnosed when the cancer is at the advanced stages. 

At American Oncology Institute (AOI), diagnosis of cancer is done by using some of the most sophisticated equipment available in India and the US. Similarly, the imaging and therapy systems used are the most advanced available in Hyderabad. Our diagnostic and cancer treatment equipment offer most effective and affordable ways for the treatment of cancer.

Cancer Treatment with Radiation Therapy

The discovery of the x rays in 1985 by Wilhelm Rontgen has left a lasting impact on the field of medicine, particularly to cure the life-threatening diseases like Cancer. Three years after its discovery, the systems were devised to use X-rays, initially for diagnosis and within 3 years the high-energy x rays were used to treat Cancer, non-surgically using radiation therapy.

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It is over 100 years since the medical practitioners have started using radiation therapy to successfully treat the cancer patients, yet there are people who attach a sense of taboo towards the treatment without understanding its purpose.

How does radiation Therapy work?

All cells in our body grow and reproduce or divide. The individual cells in our body have limited span and they are replaced with the new cells. However, some cells grow faster than the rest and divide faster. These cells are the cancer cells and the radiation prevents the cell growth or the reproduction process by changing the cell’s DNA. The radiation therapy is a non-surgical process where only cancer affected area is targeted.

How do Oncologists use the radiation therapy?

Cancer treating doctors can use radiation therapy by considering several factors. Some of the important factors are listed below

-         In the Early stages of cancer, the radiation therapy is used sometimes only to shrink the tumors to a negligible size or use radiation to disappear the cancer cells.

-         In some cases, where the cancer is in the advanced stages, the radiation is sometimes used on the patient before the surgery to shrink the tumor to remove it easily.

-         In some cases, the radiation therapy is recommended after surgically removing the tumors to keep cancer cells from growing.

-         In some cases, radiation therapy is combined with the chemotherapy to cure cancer.

The radiation therapy largely benefits to the people who are diagnosed with cancer in the early stages and the cancers that are likely to spread to the other parts of the body. Radiation therapy is also used to diagnose and eliminate the undetected cancer cells with a potential to harm the body. In some cases like throat and lung cancers, radiation therapy is used to alleviate swallowing or breathing problems caused because of the location of the tumor.

Types of radiation

 a. External Beam Radiation Therapy

As the name indicates, the radiation beams start outside the body and are then directed into the affected areas of the body. Higher doses of radiation could be suggested if the cancer cells are deep in the body tissues. Depending upon the requirement the oncologist may increase the number of beams and the amount of radiation for each beam. X rays, gamma rays, protons rays etc. are a few examples for External Beam Radiation Therapy.

Image Guided Radiation therapy

This is used to track the behavior of the tumor because they can shrink and move during the treatments. Image guide radiation helps the Oncologist track the position of tumor cells and their behavior after the radiation. This helps the oncologists to adjust and reposition the radiation target to the affected area.  There are four types if Image guide radiation therapy.

-         Gamma Knife

-         Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy

-         True Beam CT guided radiation therapy

-         View Ray MRI guided radiation therapy 

        

Intensity-modulated radiation therapy and Proton Beam Therapy are two other types of external beam radiation therapies.

        b. Internal radiation implants

A small sized radioactive“seeds” are introduced into a tumor directly or placed closed to the tumor cells. This procedure is ideally used to treat the prostate cancer but the procedure can be recommended for the other cancers as well.

The kind of treatment solely depends on the diagnosis reports of the patients. Accordingly, the doctor prescribes the dosage and the type of the radiation. The patients should participate a counseling session before the treatment to discuss the medical history and importantly have the mapping done to precisely locate the tumors or determine the location of the cancer cells.