Moving to a new town comes with a lot of tasks to get done. Not only do you have to get all of your belongings moved, but you have to make changes to your medical care facilities. So, when you get to your new home town, do you know what health care clinics you can rely on for the care of your family? Will you couple your family's healthcare with both a clinic and a PCP? This blog will give you several suggestions about how to manage the changes in your family's healthcare adaptations to ensure you receive the best possible care in your new home town.
When you go to the doctor for nosebleeds and headaches, you may be surprised that after several diagnostic tests and maybe even misdiagnoses of other sinus issues to find that you have paranasal sinus cancer. However, once you finally know the culprit for your continued and worsening sinus issues, you focus will need to quickly shift towards treating your newly diagnosed cancer. Get to know some of the treatment options available to you for treating your paranasal sinus cancer so that you can be prepared for the treatment process ahead.
Surgical Removal of Cancer Cells
While it is not possible to remove your paranasal sinuses entirely, one of the primary ways that paranasal sinus cancer is treated is through the surgical removal of tumors and cancer cells. The identified cancer cells are carefully removed along with some surrounding healthy cells.
This ensures that no cancerous cells around the edge of the identified tumors are missed in the surgical process. Sometimes, cancer in the sinuses spread to other areas of the body, particularly the nearby lymph nodes. If this is the case, the lymph nodes will also be surgically removed along with the tumors.
Radiation Therapy and Chemotherapy
In addition to surgery, many oncologists also recommend that a person diagnosed with paranasal sinus cancer also undergo another form of treatment. This additional treatment may come in the form of radiation therapy, chemotherapy or both.
Oftentimes, these therapies are known as adjuvant treatment or therapy. What this means is that they are a secondary form of treatment that are meant to prevent the growth of new tumors in the same area of the body.
Radiation therapy involves the use of high levels of energy (such as x-rays) to erradicate cancer cells and stop the growth and spread of cancer. This can be accomplished externally or internally.
External radiation therapy occurs in a doctor's office and involves targeted rays of radiation being beamed into the body. Internal radiation therapy is a surgical technique that involves leaving seeds of radioactive materials in or near the paranasal sinuses in order to release low levels of radiation to target cancer cells that may regrow in the area.
Chemotherapy is a form of cancer treatment that involves anti-cancer drugs being introduced into the body, either through taking pills or the more common, intravenous injection. Chemotherapy is often administered intermittently for a period of several weeks to months while the patient is being monitored for signs of new cancer cells or growth.
Now that you know a few of the treatment options available to your for your paranasal sinus cancer, you can be prepared to get started in your treatment process. Keep in mind that if you go through these standard treatments and still have cancer cells in your sinuses, there are clinical trials that you can look into including forms of targeted therapies that may be able to help you even if your cancer is resistant to more common treatments. So, contact your oncologist from a hospital like Sturdy Memorial Hospital and get started in the next step in your treatment.
Share10 September 2015
