What should I do if the cancer is terminal?
2020-07-31
Many people have checked out "end-stage cancer", do they continue treatment or give up going home? Giving up and insisting on treatment is likely to be empty. What on earth to do? This time, the oncologist told the truth!
“I’m often asked if my relatives and friends have recently been diagnosed with terminal cancer in the hospital. Do you think you still need treatment? Do you just give up? Let him eat whatever he wants. There are not many days anyway.”
In fact, not just ordinary people, even doctors who specialize in oncology, often think that it is definitely impossible to cure advanced cancer, and they can only wait for death. So people always ask: Is there still a need for treatment for advanced cancer?
In fact, some cancers, even in advanced stages, are still possible to be cured and cannot be generalized.
Kaifu Lee had advanced cancer and was still cured! "Unprepared, I shuddered to feel that the god of death was so close to myself; the painful process of diagnosis and treatment with cancer cells made me seem to fall from the clouds in an instant. In an instant, I don’t know where I am, small and small. Helpless." After being diagnosed with stage 4 cancer, Li Kaifu said that he seemed to be confined in a glass room. Although he could see and hear the outside world, the vivid world no longer belonged to him.
However, his life did not end due to cancer. After more than 10 months of treatment, on June 30, 2015, Kai-Fu Li announced to everyone via Weibo that the tumor has not been detected twice in a row! Kai-Fu Lee, who has regained his life, has returned to work he loved, to his family, and to a normal life.
People say that Kai-Fu Lee is lucky, but in fact, Kai-Fu Lee’s example is not a case: some cancers can be cured, while others cannot be eradicated, but after treatment, patients can return to normal lives.
So, which cancers can be cured? Before we understand these two issues, we need to understand: What is "curing cancer"?
01What is "cure cancer"?
Cure is a medical concept. What we generally call cure refers to clinical cure. For cancer, it means that the patient has a certain type of cancer. After treatment, no cancer cells can be detected in the body. Afterwards, the cancer has not recurred. He has not died of this cancer.
This includes two aspects: first, no cancer cells can be detected after treatment, which is called "complete remission" in medical terms; second, no recurrence after complete remission. Because cancer cells are very cunning, after treatment, some patients may have some cancer cells lurking in their bodies to avoid detection, and come back after treatment stops.
For most people, the time for cancer cells to come back is within 5 years, so the "5-year survival rate" is often used clinically to measure the cure probability of a certain cancer. The so-called 5-year survival rate does not mean that patients can only live for 5 years after treatment, but what percentage of patients are still alive after 5 years of treatment. The higher the 5-year survival rate, the greater the probability of curing this cancer. After 5 years of treatment, if there is still no recurrence, then for most patients, it can be considered clinically cured.
02Which cancers can be cured?
1. Early cancer: most can be cured
First, most early-stage cancers can be cured by surgery + pre- and post-operative treatment. Cancer is deadly because cancer cells do not age and die on their own like normal cells. On the contrary, cancer cells will continue to proliferate and metastasize to other organs, not only robbing vital organs for nutrients, but also destroying the functions of these organs. Lead to failure of multiple organ systems and death of the body.
Therefore, to cure cancer, it is necessary to eradicate cancer cells in the body as much as possible. Early cancers are cancers that have not detected metastasis. For tumors suitable for surgery, as long as the primary tumor can be surgically removed (where the cancer cells have grown), it is possible to eradicate all the cancer cells. But in some cases this is not enough. It is often necessary to cooperate with chemotherapy, radiotherapy, targeted therapy or endocrine therapy before or after surgery to further destroy cancer cells.
Many early cancers can be cured by this method, such as early: breast cancer, lung cancer, colon cancer, stomach cancer, prostate cancer
...
And the earlier it is found, the lower the probability of metastasis and the better the treatment effect.
For example, the famous Hong Kong actor Wang Mingquan discovered thyroid cancer in 1985. Due to the early detection and timely treatment, her career did not even stop before and after the operation. In 2002, Wang Mingquan discovered early breast cancer. Similarly, after the operation, there was no breast cancer. Has too much influence on Wang Mingquan's life.
2. Some tumors can be cured by radiotherapy and chemotherapy
Second, some tumors may be cured by radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Some tumors, such as hematological tumors (leukemia, lymphoma), and nasopharyngeal carcinoma are inherently very sensitive to radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Therefore, no matter whether they are in the early or late stage, these cancers generally do not use surgery, but direct radiotherapy and chemotherapy, and will cooperate according to the condition Targeted therapy.
In addition, malignant germ cell tumors (such as choriocarcinoma, testicular cancer, etc.), many childhood malignant tumors, and some advanced colorectal cancers (only a few liver and lung metastases that may be resected) also have a chance of cure or long-term survival. Don't simply say that you don't treat these situations, or you can't cure them.
3. Some advanced cancers can survive long-term
Although some advanced cancers cannot be cured, they can survive for a long time. For example, for some advanced cancers, such as advanced breast cancer, through comprehensive treatment, it is possible to achieve longer-term survival with tumors, and some can survive for seven or eight years or even longer. Even in the advanced stage of lung cancer, it seems that once it is advanced, it is basically difficult to exceed one year, but now there are many new drugs, and some lung adenocarcinomas can even survive for seven or eight years or longer.
At this time, of course, you should not give up easily. Of course, you still have to consider the economic situation, which is also another matter, don't mix it up.
Finally, I suggest that you don't give up easily at any time! Some cancers can really be cured!
