Chemoradiotherapy: harmful or beneficial?
There are many treatment suggestions for those who have been diagnosed for cancer. Some could be chemotherapy, radiation, or both, which is chemoradiotherapy. While studying and researching the affect these treatments have on cancerous cells and tumors, a major question is asked about the future health of the cancer patients. Is the combination of chemotherapy and radiation, also known as chemoradiotherapy, more beneficial or harmful to patients? Some doctors believe that the benefits outweigh the cons, while others believe it is more detrimental to the patient’s health.
Cancer is the second leading cause of death (Ji, 2012). To some doctors chemoradiotherapy can be very harmful to surrounding tissue, …show more content…
Chemoradiotherapy is the most common treatment path, so it is an assumed way of conduct for cancerous tumors. Immunotherapy as an addition to the treatment regimen has shown some progress in down staging the tumor growth (Patel et al., 2014). Immunotherapy includes dendritic cell vaccines, heat shock protein vaccines, and epidermal growth factor receptor vaccines, which have been showing synergistic effects (Patel et al., 2014). Particularly with glioblastomas, surgical resection and radiotherapy is the most common route, but in recent years chemotherapy has been added. This addition of chemoradiotherapy has brought on an increased onset of pseudoprogression in patients (Linhares et.al 2013). Pseudoprogression in patients shows improvements in the glioma of the brain, when actually there has not been this progression (Linhares et al. 2013). Chemoradiotherapy may have decreased the rate at which the glioblastoma has grown, but not to the extent that the MRI would be showing. This provides false hope to the patient and eventually causes further harm because it is believed that their condition has improved. As future treatment plans are advised, the treatments may be less
There are many treatment suggestions for those who have been diagnosed for cancer. Some could be chemotherapy, radiation, or both, which is chemoradiotherapy. While studying and researching the affect these treatments have on cancerous cells and tumors, a major question is asked about the future health of the cancer patients. Is the combination of chemotherapy and radiation, also known as chemoradiotherapy, more beneficial or harmful to patients? Some doctors believe that the benefits outweigh the cons, while others believe it is more detrimental to the patient’s health.
Cancer is the second leading cause of death (Ji, 2012). To some doctors chemoradiotherapy can be very harmful to surrounding tissue, …show more content…
Chemoradiotherapy is the most common treatment path, so it is an assumed way of conduct for cancerous tumors. Immunotherapy as an addition to the treatment regimen has shown some progress in down staging the tumor growth (Patel et al., 2014). Immunotherapy includes dendritic cell vaccines, heat shock protein vaccines, and epidermal growth factor receptor vaccines, which have been showing synergistic effects (Patel et al., 2014). Particularly with glioblastomas, surgical resection and radiotherapy is the most common route, but in recent years chemotherapy has been added. This addition of chemoradiotherapy has brought on an increased onset of pseudoprogression in patients (Linhares et.al 2013). Pseudoprogression in patients shows improvements in the glioma of the brain, when actually there has not been this progression (Linhares et al. 2013). Chemoradiotherapy may have decreased the rate at which the glioblastoma has grown, but not to the extent that the MRI would be showing. This provides false hope to the patient and eventually causes further harm because it is believed that their condition has improved. As future treatment plans are advised, the treatments may be less