|  | Cancer | Other Cancers

Cure for Cancer of the Esophagus

Caner of the esophagus is a less common form of cancer but can be very deadly. It is often seen in people who smoked or used chewing tobacco. These substance can change the cells design so the newly produced cells no longer have the characteristics of the surrounding tissue and impairs the esophagus's function . Many methods have been tried to cure cancer and the three most successful are surgery, chemotherapy and radiation.

  1. Surgery

    • Surgery in esophageal cancer is difficult, as the esophagus is in a sensitive area. The idea is to remove the cancerous tissue manually. The problem with surgery is that it can be hard to get every cancerous cell as they cannot be seen with the naked eye. Sometimes the cancer has taken over the entire structure and removing it would mean removing the entire esophagus. Due to these issues, surgery is often done in conjunction with either or both chemotherapy and radiation.

    Chemotherapy

    • Cancer cells divide and multiply very quickly, which is why tumors rapidly grow and destroy healthy tissue. Chemotherapy works by administering a chemical agent designed to target rapidly dividing cells and destroy them. Scientist have not been able to develop these drugs to target cancer cells specifically. Bone marrow, skin cells, and the GI tract lining also include quick-dividing cells. This form of therapy has serious side effects like nausea, hair loss and lowered immune and red blood cells. It can be very effective but may require several rounds of treatment that last weeks to put the cancer into complete remission. For severe cases, where the cancer has spread throughout the body or come back, several chemotherapy agents may be used at the same time, which can be quite hard on the patient.

    Radiation

    • Radiation therapy works in a similar way to chemotherapy in that the radiation destroys cells that divide rapidly. Radiation also does not discriminate between cancerous and healthy cells that divide rapidly, and it destroys bone marrow, skin and digestive tissues. Also like chemotherapy, radiation therapy is given in multiple doses over a course of a few weeks. It may be used in conjunction with one or both of the other forms of cancer treatment.

Other Cancers - Related Articles