Understand The Cancer Stages And Integrative Cancer Treatment

Have you heard about TNM? It is a general staging system in cancer. TNM denotes Tumor, Nodes, and Metastasis. Here, T (Tumor) identifies the size and location of the tumor, N (Nodes) depicts lymph nodes and M (Metastasis) indicates the spread of cancer in other parts of the body.

The combined results of T, N, and M along with other factors specify the stage of cancer for the individual patient.

There are four stages in most types of cancers:

 

Stage 0 (Situ): The word ‘Situ’ describes cancer as in place. It means that the cancer of Stage 0 is still located in the same place where it started and has not spread to nearby tissues. It is easily curable by surgery.

 

Stage I (1): It is considered as the cancer of the early stage. In this stage, the tumor is usually small that does not spread deep into nearby tissues. Tumor in the first stage can be removed through surgery.

 

Stage II (2) and Stage III (3): Generally, cancers of the second and third stages are considered larger with deep roots into nearby tissue. The tumor in these cases may have spread to lymph nodes too but not to other parts of the body.

 

Stage IV (4): Stage 4 cancer is known as metastatic cancer. This is an advanced stage. It means that cancer has spread to other distant organs of the body and the patient needs extensive care. It is usually get diagnosed after a long gap from the initial cancer diagnosis.

 

Stage 4 cancer treatment usually includes systemic therapy. It is noticed mostly in women in the form of breast cancer. This therapy may include targeted therapy, hormone therapy, chemotherapy, or maybe a combination of all.

 

Integrative Cancer Treatment

The term ‘Cancer Treatments’ immediately brings some words to one’s mind. These are chemotherapy, biological therapy, surgery, and radiation which are considered as conventional treatments of cancer.

 

Integrative Oncology

Integrative cancer treatment or Integrative Oncology combines CAM (Complementary and Alternative medicine) and traditional cancer treatment procedures. It helps in controlling side effects, managing symptoms and improving the state of mental health.

An Oncologist decides the specific treatment for the cancer patient after thoroughly studying and grasping his case. Every patient is given suitable treatment by considering the existing stage of cancer and the patient’s response to the provided treatment.