my dad has thraot cancer he wants to radation but i dont know i thing he should chemo.
what is better for cancer chemo or radation?
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I’m thinkin they’re the same thing…
Maybe not
Chemo is very painful and makes u so ill.radiation burns the skin to my knowledge. I just lostmy mother to cancer and she opted out on either. She didnt have a chance even if she did it her doctor mis diagnosed her for 6 years. Your father has a chance for life whatever he chooses he should make a recovery god bless and good luck.
They aren’t the same thing . Chemo is the use of drugs to treat cancer. Radiation is the use of toxic radiation to kill off new growing or fast duplicating cells. Radiation is more drastic. Both forms of treatment have effects and can make the person ill. I’m just warning. They can also use surgery to remove the tumor and a combination of surgery and chemo or radiation. Surgery must be done right away while the person is still pretty healthy. I think the combo of surgery with chemo or radiation is best because if anything is missed in surgery the chemo or radiation will get any cells that may have shot off.
It depends on the situation. I’ve had both and there are pros and cons to each.
Ask his oncologist.
You should go by the recommendation of his primary care oncologist who knows your Dad and the situation the best. In general so that you understand a bit more about cancer treatments . . there are three major ways to treat cancer depending on the type, stage of disease, location of tumor, grade of tumor, age of patient, and patients overall health. The doctor will factor all these variables together to make a decision about what is best in your fathers situation. But, in general . . the three major treatments are surgery, chemotherapy and/ or radiation . . they can be done separately, together, or in some cases only one or the other would be used depending on the circumstances.
Here are the reasons for using these types of cancer treatments:
1. Chemotherapy is used for several reasons the major one being that it is systemic. A patient can take the drugs and they will enter the blood stream or lymphatic system. Cancer can also be systemic. When it metastasizes (sheds cancer cells) it sends hundreds of new malignant cells into the blood stream or lymphatic system. It is the job of the chemotherapy to travel the same path as the microscopic cancer cells and kill them before they start a new tumor.
Chemotherapy can also work by shrinking a large tumor enough so that surgery can be used to remove it.
Chemotherapy used alone will rarely if ever ‘cure’ a cancer.
2. Radiation is best used for tumors that are in a single location. There are different types of radiation that can be used. The best radiation is the Photon Therapy that only targets the tumor and does not travel through healthy tissue. But radiation has its limitations as well . . it is not necessarily a good choice for metastatic disease since it is difficult to radiate a wide area of the body. So radiation is focused on one spot, one tumor or area in the body where residual disease may be hanging out.
3. Surgery. Surgery for most types of cancer is the goal. Complete surgical removal of tumor or tumors with wide margins on the sides is the ideal situation. For early cancers this may be the ’solution’ or it may be used along with chemotherapy and radiation to reduce the bulk of the tumors. Surgery can also have limitations especially if the disease is widespread . . sometimes surgery needs to be done a few times in order to get all the disease.
So . . in your fathers case . . throat cancer is fairly localized, but you do not mention the stage of the disease. In either case it is his oncologist that should be advising you. Now you might understand why the doctor might recommend radiation if your fathers cancer is just localized to the throat and no where else. Or . . if his oncologist is recommending chemotherapy it might be because he thinks the disease has spread or is likely to spread. He may even recommend both.
Do not think in terms of which is the ‘better treatment’ . . try to think what is best for your father at this time. Listen to his doctors and why they make a recommendation.
It depends on the type of cancer, some respond well to radiotherapy some to chemo and some require both.
So without knowing the kind of cancer its not possible to give an answer
Panda has given you an excellent answer to your question. Please read it a couple of times. And listen to your Dad’s oncologist.
I have stage 1v lung cancer and have had radiation on tumors on my spine and chemo for tumors in my lungs and lymph node. So the treatment method does depend on size and location of the tumor.
I do wish your father, and you, the very best.
I’m sure your dad wants radiation because this is what was recommended by his oncologist. Radiation (often IMRT) is standard treatment for these cancers, because it has been proven to be far more effective than chemo. Concurrent chemoradiotherapy is used in locally advanced cancers and those that are high risk for recurrence. Chemo is never ever used without radiation nor does it increase survival.
EDIT: As most people have mentioned it does depend on the location of the tumor. There are more than 200 diseases called cancer and they are all treated differently, they behave differently, have different outcomes – they are different diseases. Therefore, you cannot compare one kind of cancer to another. My answer to you is specifically about throat cancer it does not apply to any other kind of cancer. Surgery and radiation are the primary treatments for these cancers.
every cancer has a diffrent treatment methode. both chemo and radiation havve it’s pro’s and con’s. i suggest asking your dad to go to one of his appointments with him so you can talk to the doctor
Bravo Panda for a great answer as always! This is not an answer to your question, it is an appreciation to Panda and all she gives to this category. I wish you all a grand New Year and especially to Panda for helping those that seek advice here in the cancer category. It would not be the same without her and I personally have been helped over the last year plus with her excellent advice, so BRAVO PANDA!!
GOD BLESS YOU!
DAVE
Hello Dear
My Aunt has just died of cancer. She was not able to suffer because of CHEMO.
I think aleternative treatment should also be used for cancer treatment.
visit: http://cancer-is-curable-desease.blogspot.com/
None are better.Go to Gerson.org and give them a call the have been treating cancer naturally for a long time just by changing your diet and it works.