Cancer is the name given to a condition where there is an uncontrollable growth of cells in the body. It is one of the most common conditions leading to death in the world today. Cancer can affect any part of the body, but also can be treated and cured in rare cases.

Cancer shows up with a few symptoms that can be diagnosed after you consult a specialist. In women, breast cancer and in men, prostate cancer is the most common type.

What are the categories of cancer?
There are five main categories into which cancer is divided depending on the part that it affects. Here are the categories.

• Carcinoma:  It begins on the skin, tissues that line the organs.
• Sarcoma : It is the type that develops in the fat, muscle, cartilage, bone and other connective tissues.
• Lymphomas : It is cancer that starts in the immune system.
• Leukemia : Cancer that originates in the bone marrow or the blood.
• Central nervous system cancers : This is the type that develops in the spinal cord and the brain.

What are the types of cancer treatments?
There are several approaches that can be used to treat cancer. It depends on the type of cancer you have, the stage you are at and the health condition. These factors are taken into account before a treatment is suggested.

Here are few of the ways in which cancers are dealt with.

• Surgery
  Surgery removes the cancerous cells from the regions. There are different types of surgeries that are performed based on the type of cancer.
• Radiation therapy
  Radiology is a therapy where high doses of radiation are used to shrink the tumors and kill the cancer cells. There are several types of radiation therapies and side effects as well.
• Chemotherapy
  Chemo is the most popular of the methods used to treat cancer patients. Chemotherapy is even considered as one of the most effective ways to treat cancer. Here, the treatment involves giving certain medications or combinations of them to the patient over a few weeks or months. Chemotherapy even causes side effects that the patient must be made aware of.
• Immunotherapy
  Immunology is a treatment that is done to help the immune system fight the cancer cells.
• Targeted therapy for cancer
  This is a cancer treatment which prevents cancer from growing and dividing by targeting the changes in the cells. This is one of the most sought-after techniques used to treat cancer.
• Stem cell transplant
  This is a procedure that works on restoring the stem cells in patients where it is destroyed due to the radiology or chemotherapy.

How effective is the cancer treatment?
With research aiding in improving the treatments, there are several cancer trials that are open frequently. The same type of cancer in one person is different from cancer in another. Each type of cancer itself has several subtypes where each again requires a different treatment. With so many options available, diagnosis in the initial stages has higher chances of getting cured.

Managing the side effects of cancer treatment
Care and support are required when a person is undergoing cancer treatment. Apart from dealing with the disease, the side effects must also be taken care of. There are supportive services that can help deal with them.

• Naturopathic medicine
• Oncology rehabilitation
• Nutrition therapy
• Mind-body medicine

The future lies in giving patients treatments that are more personalized. Doctors also offer treatments based on the genetic changes that occur in a tumor. Genetic tumor assessment is done to examine the genetics and find a mechanism to treat it. This will change the approach to a more personalized and effective one.