Essay Sample on Cancer: Diagnosis, Staging, Complications, Treatment & Care

Introduction

There are many diseases in the world. One of them is cancer. Cancer is a disease that begins as a malignant tumor that spread all over the body if untreated. According to the American Cancer Society (n.d), Cancer is one of the leading causes of deaths in America. Cancer is a disease that brings endless suffering to its victims and their families. Here, an approach to the care of cancer is discussed. The paper describes the diagnosis, staging, complications, the side effects of treatment, methods to lessen physical effects, and methods to lessen the psychological effects of cancer.

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Diagnosis

Just like any other disease, the identification and nature of cancer are necessary. Diagnosis is significant to comprehensive cancer control. The World Health Organization (2017) mentioned that the focus of diagnosis is for people with symptoms of cancer. The organization provides three steps to the early diagnosis of cancer as the following,

Awareness of the symptoms of cancer and accessing care - Patients must know about specific disease manifestations, comprehend the desperation of these manifestations, overcome the stigma related with malignancy and have the capacity to get appropriate care. Awareness has to be converted into health-seeking behavior where patients are encouraged to go to hospitals for clinical diagnoses.

Clinical evaluation, diagnosis, and staging - this stage incorporates an assessment by the clinician at the hospital to find out if the disease is present. The clinician must have an index of doubt, clinical abilities and assets to make a precise clinical determination. At that point, patients with suspicious discoveries for malignancy ought to get symptomatic tests that may incorporate imaging or laboratory tests, neurotic confirmation, and staging.

Access to treatment- the patient with cancer should most likely get access to treatment. Successful treatment of the disease requires a multi-disciplinary methodology and the improvement of a treatment plan that is archived and educated by a group of prepared medical practitioners.

Staging

Staging of cancer is the process of determining the anatomic extent of the disease. According to Brierley, Gospodarowicz, & O'Sullivan (2016), the aims of staging are to help in treatment planning, providing an indication for treatment, help in the assessment of treatment results, facilitate in the exchange of information between treatment centers, help in cancer control activities, and contributes to the continuing investigations of tumors. The authors indicated that staging of cancer is based on the TNM system, which was first introduced by Pierre Denoix and the Union for International Cancer Control in the 1940s and 1950s. As the authors added, in the TNM classification, T represents the extent of the tumors, N represents the extent in the lymph nodes metastasis, and M represents the absence or presence of distant metastasis. There are various modifiers for the staging of cancer using TNM. One of them is cTNM, which guides the approach to investigation and treatment as well as pTNM, which guides the use of adjuvant therapies (Brierley, Gospodarowicz, & O'Sullivan, 2016). Furthermore, Tan & the Cancer Council Australia Oncology Education Committee (2014) added another modifier, which is the yTNM, which guides the completion of neoadjuvant therapy. All the TNM classifications give the indications of prognosis (Brierley, Gospodarowicz, & O'Sullivan, 2016) and that the stage grouping is the categorization of malignancies into stages I to IV (Tan & the Cancer Council Australia Oncology Education Committee, 2014). There are other cancer staging procedures according to Tan & the Cancer Council Australia Oncology Education Committee (2014). They include the following,

Female Reproductive System Malignancies

The FIGO (International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics) framework is utilized. The stage is dictated by highlights, for example, level of intrusion, ureteric block, lymphadenopathy, and peritoneal seeding. It ranges from Stage I to IV.

Lymphoma

The Ann Arbor order is utilized to depict what numbers of lymph node regions are included and whether the regions are on one or the two sides of the diaphragm.

Colon Malignant Growth

This has a TNM framework. Nevertheless, the Dukes Classification framework is still generally utilized. In this, the stage is characterized from A to D dependent on the profundity of attack, nodal association and inaccessible metastases.

Small Cell Lung Malignant Growth

This utilizes the TNM framework. However, more usually it is basically partitioned into a constrained and broad stage, in view of whether the malady is intrathoracic and can be enveloped inside a radiation gateway.

Complications of Cancer

Patients with cancer experience various complications. According to Mayo Clinic (2017, they include the following,

Pain - pain can be brought about by malignancy or by disease treatment, however not all malignant growth is excruciating. Medications can help to deal with the pain.

Fatigue - in individuals with malignant growth has numerous causes, however, it can regularly be overseen. Exhaustion related to chemotherapy or radiation treatment medicines is normal.

Weight loss - cancer treatment may cause weight reduction. The disease takes sustenance from ordinary cells and denies them of supplements. This is frequently not influenced by what number of calories or what sort of sustenance is eaten, it is hard to treat.

Side Effects of Cancer Treatment

Even among those receiving the same type of treatment, side effects vary from person to person. Nurgali, Jagoe, & Abalo (2018) asserted that nausea and vomiting are the most common side effects of chemotherapy. The authors discuss chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV) where they indicated that delayed is difficult to manage. Furthermore, the authors discuss other gastrointestinal side effects of cancer treatment, which can be fatal. They cite Cinausero et al. who indicated that some side effects include local ulceration and pain, which may eventually cause to anorexia, malabsorption, weight loss, anemia, fatigue, and sepsis.

Methods to Lessen Physical Effects

One of the physical effects of cancer is fatigue and shortness of breath. The American Cancer Society (2014) indicated that new research outlines that cancer patients receiving treatment have to be active as possible to ensure that they do not have delayed body function, muscle weakness, and body motion. It recommends patients with cancer to not lift heavy weights or do exercise that exerts stress on their bones if they have osteoporosis, cancer that has spread to the bone, arthritis, nerve injury, poor eye-sight, poor stability, and weakness. The other physical effect is weight loss. Here, the American Cancer Society (2014) noted that cancer patients need to limit high-calorie foods and drinks to promote weight loss. The society emphasizes whole grains, fruits, and vegetables as a healthier diet for a patient with cancer. According to them, exercise and nutrition are mandatory to achieve a healthier weight range.

Methods to Lessen Psychological Effects

Therapy can be one of the techniques to lessen the psychological effects of cancer. Often, patients who have cancer seek professional counseling to deal with psychological problems such as depression that they might have. Cancer Treatment Centers of America (n.d) pointed out mind-body medicine. The mind-body therapists at Cancer Treatment Centers of America are trained to work with cancer patients as they comprehend the depression that they go through and assist them on their path to recovery. The therapists guide patients through feelings of loss, hopelessness, and help them in making decisions regarding life-threatening diseases.

Conclusion

A plan for the finding and treatment of cancer is a key segment of any general disease control plan. Its primary objective is to cure cancer patients or improve their quality of life, guaranteeing decent personal satisfaction. All together for an analysis and treatment program to be effective, it should be connected to an early identification program with the goal that cases are recognized at a beginning time when treatment is progressively successful and there is a more noteworthy possibility of a cure. It likewise should be coordinated with a palliative consideration program, so patients with cancer who can never again advantage from treatment will get sufficient alleviation from their physical, psychosocial and otherworldly anguish. Besides, projects ought to incorporate a mindfulness raising segment, to instruct patients, family and network individuals about the disease chance components and the requirement for taking preventive measures to abstain from creating malignant growth. Overall, medical practitioners ought to handle cancer patients with care to ensure their prolonged survival.

References

American Cancer Society. N.d. Retrieved from https://www.fightcancer.org/about

American Cancer Society. (2014). Physical Activity and the Cancer Patient. Retrieved from https://www.cancer.org/treatment/survivorship-during-and-after-treatment/staying-active/physical-activity-and-the-cancer-patient.html

Brierley, J., Gospodarowicz, M., & O'Sullivan, B. (2016). The principles of cancer staging.Ecancermedicalscience, 10, ed61. doi:10.3332/ecancer.2016.ed61

Cancer Treatment Centers of America (n.d). Depression. Retrieved from https://www.cancercenter.com/integrative-care/depression

Mayo Clinic. (2017). Cancer Complications. Retrieved from https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/cancer/symptoms-causes/syc-20370588

Nurgali, K., Jagoe, R. T., & Abalo, R. (2018). Editorial: Adverse Effects of Cancer Chemotherapy: Anything New to Improve Tolerance and Reduce Sequelae?. Frontiers in pharmacology, 9, 245. doi:10.3389/fphar.2018.00245

Tan, A, Cancer Council Australia Oncology Education Committee. (2016). Cancer diagnosis: staging and imaging. Cancer Council Australia. Retrieved fro https://wiki.cancer.org.au/oncologyformedicalstudents/Cancer_diagnosis:_staging_and_imaging

World Health Organization. (2017). Guide to Cancer Early Diagnosis. Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO.