Services

What are the precautions I need to take to avoid infection during the treatment?

• Wash your hands carefully while in the hospital. Alcohol hand rub is kept by each hand wash basin and by the entrance of the clinical areas (wards, day unit and outpatients). It is quicker and easier to use than soap when your hands are not actually soiled but might be carrying “hidden bugs.” Please wash your hands after using the toilet or if you have any diarrhoea
• Maintain good personal hygiene, take a bath or shower every day
• Keep your mouth clean, brush your teeth and rinse your mouth after meals
• Use a soft toothbrush that won’t hurt your gums
• Be careful not to nick yourself when using scissors, needles or knives
• Change your bed linen regularly
• Avoid going to crowded places
• Avoid inhalation of dust
• Take care when handling pets
• Stay away from people who have a disease / infection you can catch, such as cold, flu and measles. Inform us immediately if you are in contact with someone with an infectious or contagious disease such as Chicken Pox.
• Keep your environment clean, use a regular surface disinfectant

If you are at particular risk of an infection, due to the type of Chemotherapy you are receiving, you may be given “preventative” antibiotics. These should help protect you from the most common infections. Please ensure you take them regularly as directed.

• How are gynaecological cancers diagnosed?Diagnosis of a gynaecological cancer may involve a number of tests, including:
  • a physical examination, with a pelvic examination
  • a Pap smear
  • blood tests such as a CA125 test
  • imaging tests – these may include a transvaginal ultrasound or a computed tomography (CT) scan; magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or positron emission tomography (PET) scans may also be suggested.
  • taking a sample of tissue (biopsy) for examination under a microscope.

  Treatment options

  Treatment and care of women with gynaecological cancers is usually provided by a team of health professionals – called a multidisciplinary team.

  Treatment for gynaecological cancers depends on the stage and type of the disease, the severity of symptoms and the woman’s general health. Treatment often involves surgery to remove as much of the tumour as possible, and to determine its stage (how far the cancer may have spread). Radiotherapy, chemotherapy and hormonal therapies may also be used.

  Research is ongoing to find new ways to diagnose and treat different types of cancer. Some women may be offered the option of participation in a clinical trial to test new ways of treating their gynaecological cancer.

In general, patients with early-stage head and neck cancers (particularly those limited to the site of origin) are treated with one modality—either radiation therapy or surgery. Patients who have more extensive cancers are often treated with concurrent chemotherapy and radiation therapy. Sometimes, depending on the clinical scenario, patients are treated with surgery followed by postoperative radiation therapy and chemotherapy.

If the plan of treatment is radiation therapy alone for the primary cancer, the neck is also treated with radiation therapy. In addition, surgery to remove involved lymph nodes in the neck (called a neck dissection) may be necessary if the amount of disease in the neck nodes is relatively extensive or if the cancer in the neck nodes has not been eliminated completely by the end of the radiation therapy course.

Another treatment that might be necessary before or after radiation therapy is surgery. In general, if the surgical removal of the primary tumor is indicated, radiation is given afterward if necessary. Sometimes, however, the cancer is extensive or it is not feasible to completely remove the cancer initially. Radiotherapy is then given first to try to shrink the tumor, and surgery will follow radiotherapy.

• Breast cancer treatment can be divided into two parts: local and systemic.
  

  Local therapy

  Local therapy removes the cancer from a limited (local) area, such as the breast, chest wall and lymph nodes in the underarm area (axillary nodes).

  It also helps ensure the cancer doesn’t come back (recur) to that area.

  Local therapy includes surgery and radiation therapy to the breast area.

  Systemic therapy (adjuvant therapy)

  Systemic therapy aims to get rid of cancer cells that may have spread from the breast to other parts of the body.

  Systemic therapy usually means drug therapy, which travels throughout the body to get rid of cancer cells that may have spread.

  Systemic therapy uses drug therapies (either by vein (through an IV) or pill form) that travel throughout the body to get rid of cancer cells. It includes chemotherapy, hormone therapy and targeted therapy.

  Because systemic therapy is in addition to (an adjunct to) breast surgery, these treatments are often called adjuvant therapy.

• Treating stomach cancer

  Traditionally, stomach cancer is treated with one or more of the following:

  • chemotherapy
  • radiation therapy
  • surgery
  • immunotherapy, such as vaccines and medication

  Your exact treatment plan will depend on the origin and stage of the cancer. Age and overall health can also play a role.

  Aside from treating cancer cells in the stomach, the goal of treatment is to prevent the cells from spreading. Stomach cancer, when left untreated, may spread to the:

  • lungs
  • lymph nodes
  • bones
  • liver

Self-Care for Brain Cancer

The person’s health-care provider and the physician team in charge of their case should discuss details about home care with both the patient and family members.

• Home care usually includes supportive measures needed according to the patient’s symptoms. For example, walkers may be given for those patients who have gait or minor balance problems.
• If a person has mental-status changes, a care plan should be directed to the patient’s individual needs. For example, a caregiver may be assigned to administer the patient’s daily medications.

If the patient’s prognosis is poor, it is appropriate to discuss options of hospicecare and advance directives with the doctors.

• Home hospice care is a way of providing pain and symptom relief, as well as emotional and spiritual support for the patient and the family, at home rather than in the hospital. It involves a multidisciplinary approach that may include a physician or other care provider, nurses, a pharmacist, aides, a social worker, a spiritual caregiver, and counselors.
• Advance directives and living wills are legal documents that spell out specifically which treatments are to be given and which are to be withheld. For example, a person with advanced brain cancer may not want to be put on a ventilator (breathing machine) if he or she stops breathing. Patients have the right to make these decisions for themselves as long as they remain mentally competent. They may also wish to designate someone to make such decisions for them should they become unable to do so later. Such a document is called a durable power of attorney for health-care decisions. Directives should be available to health-care personnel, especially when any emergent change in the person’s condition occurs, otherwise a person’s care directives may not be done.
• Home remedies claiming cures for brain cancer can be found on the Internet; they range from taking folic acid supplements to taking antioxidants and herbal substances. There is little or no data to support these claims; people are urged to discuss these treatments, before trying them, with their doctors.

What Are Surgical Treatment Plans for Brain Cancer?

• The treatment protocols vary widely according to the location of the tumor, its size, grade, and type, the patient’s age, and any additional medical problems that the person may have.
• The most widely used treatments are surgery, radiation therapy, and chemotherapy. As mentioned in some cases, more than one of these treatment types is used.

Most people with a brain tumor undergo surgery. (Craniotomy is the term used to refer to the surgical opening of the skull.)

• The purposes of surgery are to confirm that the abnormality seen on the brain scan is indeed a tumor, to assign a grade to the tumor, and to remove the tumor. If the tumor cannot be removed completely, the surgeon will at least take a sample of the tumor to identify its type and grade.
• In some cases, mostly in benign tumors, the disease can be completely cured by surgical removal of the tumor. A neurosurgeon will attempt to remove the tumor when possible.