The treatment for cancer includes:
1. Use of surgical methods:
a. Removal of cancerous tissue or part by operative methods.
b. Used in case of breast, stomach and womb cancer.
c. Cannot be employed against leukemia.
2. Chemotherapy or Drug treatment:
a. Chemicals like mercaptopurine, 6-aminopterin are used to kill cancerous cells or slow the divisions of cancer cells.
b. The two alkaloids Vincristine and Vinblastine are anti-cancerous drugs obtained from the plant Catharanthus roseus. It is used against leukemia.
3. Radiation therapy:
a. Cancerous parts of the body are exposed to X-rays, radioactive Cobalt-60, Radium, Iodine-131 which kill the cancerous cells.
b. It is effective against cancer of skin, mouth, lip and cervix.
c. This kind of therapy may cause severe damage to normal tissues.
4. Hormonal therapy:
Cancer caused due to a hormone is treated by another hormone which neutralizes the carcinogenic hormone. E.g. Testosterone controls breast cancer.
5. Immunotherapy:
Interferons are administered which prevent viral reproduction, slows cell divisions and regulates the activities of the immune system.
6. Use of Monoclonal antibodies:
a. Monoclonal antibodies are prepared by fusing single plasma cell with tumour cell to form hybridoma cell.
b. They go after only one antigen to destroy only cancerous cells.
7. Combined therapy:
Any two methods of treatment are used together in the treatment of cancer in the late stages.
