A few days ago, Zhang Dama next door came to me with great anxiety and asked me:
A good sister of mine got breast cancer. I just heard the doctor say that I can do [radical mastectomy]. Is it a liar?
Can this radical mastectomy really cure breast cancer?
[Radical Tumor Surgery] is real, and doctors have not lied to you! However, Zhang Dama’s suspicion is not without reason-people all say that the tumor cannot be cured, how can it be cured?
One third of cancers can be cured.
At present, the consensus of experts is:
- 1/3 of tumors can be prevented, 1/3 of tumors can be cured by standardized and comprehensive treatment, and 1/3 of tumors can prolong survival by treatment.
So, in the doctor’s opinion, Not all tumors are incurable. However, the doctor’s view of cure may be slightly different from that of ordinary people. The doctor’s view of tumor cure refers to the killing or elimination of all tumor cells in the body, including local, peripheral lymph nodes, and tumor cells transferred to other tissues and organs.
However, it is difficult to judge [all tumor cells have been killed], so there is another saying that [clinical cure].
Cancer surgery is one to two years after the high incidence of recurrence, 3 years later, the recurrence rate, metastasis rate significantly decreased. Especially after 5 years of treatment, the recurrence rate, metastasis rate will further decline, at this time, can be called [clinical cure].
The treatment method aimed at achieving cure or clinical cure is called [radical tumor surgery], which mainly includes radical surgery, radical chemotherapy and radical radiotherapy.
Which tumors have [radical surgery]?
1. Radical surgery
All kinds of early solid tumors, In particular, [carcinoma in situ] is mainly treated by surgery, such as thyroid cancer, breast cancer, cervical cancer, head and neck tumors, colorectal cancer and other gastrointestinal tumors. The advantage is that there is no need to worry about chemotherapy drug resistance and radiotherapy insensitivity, but the surgery is traumatic, requires high comprehensive physical quality of patients, and cannot well control potential subclinical lesions.
2. Radical chemotherapy
Radical chemotherapy is mainly used in chorioepithelial cancer, malignant hydatidiform mole, testicular seminoma, Hodgkin lymphoma, Burkitt lymphoma, rhabdomyosarcoma, nephroblastoma and neuroblastoma.
Chemotherapy is a systemic treatment method, which can treat solid tumor and non-solid tumor, primary focus, metastatic focus and potential focus with good therapeutic effect. However, chemotherapy has the risk of drug resistance and has different degrees of toxic and side effects.
3. Radical radiotherapy
Radiotherapy and surgery are a local treatment method for tumors. Under the condition that the patient’s physical condition cannot tolerate surgery, it can also achieve the curative effect for early solid tumors.
One kind of cancer is very special, the first choice is radiotherapy-based comprehensive treatment, that is nasopharyngeal carcinoma. After radical radiotherapy, the cure rate of nasopharyngeal carcinoma is as high as 80%.
With the development of computer and imaging technology, radiotherapy can play a better role in protecting the organs around the tumor, and the application of radiotherapy will be more extensive.
Is the tumor really cured?
Before, I had treated a 20-year-old patient with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma clinically. Her pathological result was a type with quite good prognosis. At that time, she received the best treatment mode internationally recognized, radical chemotherapy and radical radiotherapy. Then, less than half a year later, her tumor recurred.
We often say privately that her [luck] is too bad.
Why are some people so unlucky? Is it really just bad luck? The recurrence of tumor is mainly related to two factors:
1. It is a constitution prone to tumors,
Doctors only temporarily [removed] the tumor, but they cannot change people’s genes and constitution-they will also cause the tumor to recur due to unhealthy lifestyle, exposure to carcinogens, etc.
2. Tumor is actually a systemic disease,
A local tumor is under control, but there may already be potential lesions nearby or in other parts, which cannot be well detected by medical methods at present.
In a word
Any kind of malignant tumor, after treatment by standardized and comprehensive means, even radical surgery cannot be taken lightly. Regular reexamination can control the recurrence of the tumor in its infancy. Improving one’s own immunity and eliminating tumor cells by one’s own immune system are equally reliable and effective.
In the face of malignant tumors, [radical resection of tumors] is indeed a good treatment method for us, and it is also a good expectation for doctors and patients.