What’s the difference between small-cell lung cancer and non-small-cell lung cancer?

Small cell and non-small cell is the type of lung cancers. Both cancers affect the lungs but they have several key differences, including how they are treated and their average progression time.

Small cell cancer is true to its name. When viewed under a microscope, the cells of a small cell cancer appear small and round. Non-small cell lung cancer cells are larger in size.

There are several different types of non-small cell lung cancers. These include adenocarcinoma, squamous cell, and large cell carcinoma.

Symptoms

Both small cell and non-small cell lung cancers cause similar symptoms.

Examples of lung cancer symptoms include:

• appetite loss
• blood in mucus that has been coughed up
• chest pain
• cough that will not go away
• difficulty swallowing
• feeling tired for no apparent reason
• shortness of breath
• swelling, especially of the face and neck
• wheezing

According to the University of Virginia Health System, small cell lung cancer is considered the more aggressive cancer when compared to non-small cell cancer.

Small cell cancers typically grow at a faster rate. An estimated 90 percent of small cell cancer patients are diagnosed when the cancer has already spread to nearby lymph nodes or organs.

How was bladder cancer diagnosed for the first time?

First of all doctor will check whole body checkup and know you complete medical history. If your doctor feels something is wrong, he’ll prescribe the lab tests or might also send you to see a urologist.

Urine Tests: In urine test, there are a number of things he and other health professionals can look for such as Urinalysis, Urine culture, Urine tumor marker tests.

Colonoscopy: Your doctor will place a colonoscopy through the urethra -the duct that you pee through — and into the bladder. The spectroscope is a thin tube with a light and video camera on the end. Your doctor will inject salt water through the tube and into your bladder. This will allow him to see the inner lining of your bladder with the camera.

Trans urethral Resection of Bladder Tumor (TURBOT): If your doctor finds something that doesn’t look right during your colonoscopy, he’ll take a sample of it (biopsy) to see whether it’s cancer.

During a TURBOT, your surgeon will remove the tumor and some of the bladder muscle near it. They’ll be sent to the lab to check for cancer.

What is the difference between immune-oncology and classic oncology?

 Hypnotherapy (Immune-oncology) drugs, at least today, tend to use antibodies (your body's own defense system) to attack cancer cells. Cancer cells cannot generally be attacked by your own immune system because they are not recognized as a threat. Cancer cells arise from mutations in genes of existing cells in your body and thus are not viewed as foreign. Immune-oncology drugs provide detection of cancerous cells and then your body's system does the rest.Classic oncology drugs could classified into either chemotherapy or targeted therapy. Chemotherapy is a combination of different chemicals that all target rapidly dividing cells in different ways. Since cancer cells are all rapidly dividing, chemotherapy will on average, kill many more of the cancer cells than the other cells in your body. This is also why rapidly dividing cells like hair and skin will die as a side effect of chemotherapy. Targeted therapy on the other hand uses drugs that can precisely identify and attack cancer cells while doing little damage to normal cells. The drugs target certain mutations (i.e. HERS in breast cancer) and are much more focused than chemotherapy. Testing for different mutations is important before using targeted therapies because the treatment will only be effective if you have that particular mutation, even if it is the same type of cancer.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

                                                                                                                                                          Marco Chan

CANCER BIOLOGY 2019

What is the scope of Radiation Oncology in India in the next 10 years?

Cancer incidence in India is less than in the West per 100000 population. With the given increase in pollution, lifestyle changes and increased awareness and diagnostic modalities it is likely to only increase.

Oncology is a multi-modality specialty and hence the role of surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy in treatment of cancer will only refine and increase with time.

With the advent of refined modalities of Radiotherapy wherein, more conformity is achieved, the role will increase.

Added to it, conservative management as against morbid surgery will find more and more acceptance as results improve.

Therefore, in my opinion radiotherapy modalities like IMRT, IGRT, SRS and IORT will come up as time passes and results improve. Only caveat is spectacular development of targeted molecular therapy which may reduce the need for time consuming and more toxic radiotherapy.

And in India we have a long way to go before we reach a level of enough availability of this expensive modality. Hence, there is a lot of scope for this specialty in next 10 years to come.