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FREQUENTLY
ASKED QUESTIONS
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FAQ's |
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Q. How is anti-cancer treatment
delivered to the patients? |
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Patient may receive anti cancer treatment as outpatient
department (OPD) care, ie. without admission to
the hospital, Inpatient care (admission in the hospital
), Day care (day time short admission ) or home
care i.e. at home under care of trained nursing
staff.
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Q. Can cancer spread to other
family members who are staying close to the patient?
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has been found that cancer in humans does not spread
by sharing food, water, clothing, and casual sexual
contact. No one can "get cancer" from another person.
Thus the attendants need not fear and patient should
not be socially isolated unless the patient has
low blood counts which necessitate a protective
environment.
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Q. How it is ensured that
the person is suffering from cancer and not tuberculosis
or any other disease? |
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The presence of cancer can alone be guaranteed by
achieving the tissue diagnosis. In human body there
are about 200 tissue types and about 200 types of
cancer. Either pricking cancer using fine needle
or removal of sample for cancer cell type identification
can achieve this. It should be noted that pricking
or sampling cancer tissue does not cause cancer
spread to distant organs if done by a specialist
using all necessary techniques and care. |
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Q. What are the latest innovations
in cancer treatment? |
| Cancer
therapy whether cancer medicine, cancer surgery
or radiation therapy, all are becoming more and
more "targeted". Advances have brought in more patient
friendly, less toxic and more effective "precision
therapies". |
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Q. How are cancer medicines
given? |
| Cancer
medicines can be given by mouth, or as injections
in venous or arterial blood. |
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Q. What is the approximate
cost of cancer medicine? |
| The
usual cancer medicines cost between Rs 1000 to Rs
50,000 for a single course. However, newer medicines
may cost Rs 1-2 lakhs per course.
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Q. Why is chemotherapy said
to be painful? |
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of the major problems in chemotherapy is the development
of painful veins, once the chemotherapy is given
through the veins of hands and forearms. Due to
this there is problem of venous access especially
in the later courses of treatment. |
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Q. How can we achieve painless
administration of chemotherapy? |
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problem can be bypassed by using central venous
catheters, implanted venous ports, triple lumen
central lines and peripherally inserted central
catheters. Delivering chemotherapy in large central
vein does not lead to painful veins. |
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Q. Will all cancer patients
die of their disease? |
| Cancer
is not necessarily fatal. In general, one out of
three persons with cancer are cured permanently,
another one third temporarily and last third are
best managed for symptom control alone. No doctor
is right in saying that there is nothing that can
be done for a given patient. |
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Q.
What should be done if the doctor says that the
patient is suffering from terminal cancer? |
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The value of a person's life does not end when the
death is near. "To live until you die", sums up
the need of the family and the patient suffering
from any terminal illness whether it is terminal
cancer or end-stage heart, kidney, and lung failure.
Anyone who says nothing can be done other than waiting
for death, is always wrong. |
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Q.
How best can the cancer physician benefit the patient?
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The relationship of a cancer doctor does not stop
at providing technical expertise alone. The doctor's
role is that of a friend, philosopher and guide
telling how to " add years to life" and "add life
to years". |
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