Cancer Treatment other than Chemotherapy in Ahmedabad

Overview

Traditionally, chemotherapy stood at the core of cancer treatment; it was strong medicine and brutally effective. It took its toll on rapidly dividing cells without little discrimination. But those times have changed, and many decades later, big advances in oncology are translating into alternative treatments offering a more surgical line of attack with fewer side effects. Dr. Vikesh Shah, a best cancer doctor in Ahmedabad , has become the frontrunner for such advances. Specialized in seeking and availing novel treatments for his patients, he opens up more options for those patients who are in desperate need of looking for an alternative to conventional chemotherapy. 

1. Immunotherapy: Empowering the Immune System

Overview

Thus, it is a revolutionary kind of treatment. It functions on the very principle of enlisting the power of the immune system in the fight against cancer. Unlike chemotherapy, it kills only the cancerous cells since it activates natural body defenses against them.

Types of Immunotherapy:

• Checkpoint Inhibitors: These are drugs that interfere with proteins on the surface of tumor cells which, in case they may be present, normally shut down immune cells against the tumor. The inhibition of such proteins ensures a non-latent active immune system for purposes of identifying and destroying tumor cells. Examples include:
  • Pembrolizumab: This is utilized in treating a range of cancers, including melanoma and lung cancer.
  • Nivolumab: Can be considered as Opdivo, which is used in treating a wide range of cancers, from kidney cancer to Hodgkin lymphoma.
• CAR-T Cell Therapy: This is the specialty of the patient’s T-cells, which get enhanced in their effectiveness against the attacks of the cancer cells. Listed below is some of what transpires in this sort of therapy:
  • Cell Extraction: The T-cells are extracted from one’s blood.
  • Cell gene manipulation: The same cells are then taken to the laboratory and genetically manipulated such that they can now detect the cancerous signals tagged on the receptors.
  • Cell Infusion: The manipulated cells are transfused back into the patient where they home to site and destroy cancerous cells. CAR-T cell immunotherapy has been found extremely effective against certain leukemias and lymphomas.
• Anti-Cancer Vaccines: Unlike preventive vaccines, in the case of anti-cancer vaccines, treatment is provided to eradicate cancer based on the fact that the immune system is elicited against ‘non-self’.

Cancer Vaccines: Though vaccines are considered in general as preventive measures against specific diseases, cancer vaccines are of a therapeutic nature since they provoke an immune response against the cancerous cells. Following are some of the roles these vaccines play:

• Stimulating Immune Response: These provide an efficient fighting capacity to a physiological system of an individual.
• It activates antigens of the cancer, thereby activating the immune system, which enables it to recognize the cancerous cells and kill them.

Benefits and Challenges: It is one of the greatest strides in cancer treatment these days, in that it is often less toxic and targeted in its attack than commonly used chemotherapy. While this treatment is still most promising in preliminary testing, one key flaw with this treatment is that it can also cause immune system-related side effects through the inflammation of healthy tissues. This really does open up completely new avenues of treatment for cancers that up until now were exceedingly difficult to deal with.

2. Targeted Therapy: Precision Medicine at Its Best

Overview

Targeted therapy: Treatment of disease by using drugs or other substances to target specifically the cancerous cells, dictated by the molecular profiles. The concepts behind this treatment are to interrupt those processes necessary for the progression of the tumor and survival.

Types of Targeted Therapy:

• Monoclonal Antibodies: These are the man-made molecules that attach to the unique targets on the surface of the cancerous cells and hence mark them for destruction by the immune system or block growth signals. Examples include trastuzumab (Herceptin), which acts on HER2-positive breast cancer.
• Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors: It also works on the HER2 protein in HER2-positive breast cancer.
• Hormone Therapy: Through this treatment, those cancers, which are fuelled by the hormones are treated. These include cancers of the breasts and the prostate. This therapy is achieved either through interference with the hormone receptor or reduction of the levels of the hormones in the body.

Effect: Targeted therapy refers to treatment that acts, in a more ‘targeted’ way, against the tumor and usually is less toxic than chemotherapy. Sometimes cancers develop resistance to the targeted therapies, and further research and development of the latter are needed in such cases.

3. Hormone Therapy: Tailoring Treatment for Hormone-Sensitive Cancers

Overview

Hormones in the body catalyze the growth of some types of cancers. Cancer cells are made up of proteins, known as receptors that these hormones attach themselves to. When these hormones’ amounts increase in the body, it feeds the growth of the attached cancer cells. Thus, hormone therapy is any treatment that inhibits the hormones from growing, thereby slowing down or even stopping the growth of the cancer cells.

Types of Hormone Therapy:

• Estrogen Receptor Modulators: These are drugs, such as tamoxifen, that block the estrogen receptors on the cancer cells, thus slowing the growth of estrogen-dependent cancers of the breast.
• Aromatase Inhibitors: Given to postmenopausal women, the medications reduce the levels of estrogen in the body and help in the treatment of hormone receptor-positive breast cancers. Examples include letrozole and anastrozole.
• Androgen Deprivation Therapy: This is one of the treatments put into use in the management of prostate cancer through reduction of levels of male hormones, which are responsible for tumor growth. This may be involved with drugs to interfere with androgen production or surgical removal of the testicles.

Effects: It has played a very important role in the management of hormone-sensitive tumors of the body. This is generally an adjunct to the other modes of treatment. It can offer a selective method that can improve the results and the quality of life for the patient.

4. Radiation Therapy: Precision Targeting of Tumors

Overview

It is a type of treatment that makes use of high-energy rays in focused manners to concentrate their attention on and kill the cancerous cells in a particular location. Since this method concerns itself with just one area where treatment is being administered, it causes minimal damage to the surrounding, healthy tissues.

Types of Radiation Therapy:

• External Beam Radiation Therapy: It includes radiation given from outside the body to the tumor hence precisely targets cancerous cells.
• Brachytherapy: A radioactive source is placed inside or as close as possible to the tumor and gives high dosage of radiations to tumorous tissues.

Effect: Radiation treatment is effective for the majority of cancers and is usually applied in conjunction with other therapeutic modalities. The aforementioned modality often reduces tumor dimensions, symptom improvement, and, in some instances, cancer cure depending upon the type and stage of the disease.

5. Complementary and Integrative Therapies: Enhancing Overall Well-being

Overview

Complementary therapies are therapies that may help a patient’s general feeling of well-being and can improve quality of life while minimizing symptoms or the side effects of treatments. Complementary therapies do not take the place of more traditional treatment methods but can be used in addition to medical treatment in an attempt to support the health of a patient.

Types of Complementary Therapies:

• Nutritional Therapy: Individualized nutrition programs promote the well-being of the whole person. It reduces symptoms caused due to after-effects of the treatment. Further, it helps standard therapies to do their work effectively.
• Mind-Body Techniques: Meditation, yoga, as well as mindfulness comes under this type, which may decrease the level of stress, boosts the mood states as well as immune response.
• Acupuncture: The symptoms of pain and nausea are reduced by this therapy, resulting in a reduction of some side effects caused due to conventional therapies.

Effectiveness: Complementary benefits that are found from other therapies may be beneficial to the overall treatment by attending not only to physical but also emotional needs. These are generally harmless to receive; however, they should be disclosed with the health care providers in order to rule out an interference in the overall conventional treatment.

6. Personalized Medicine: Customizing Cancer Treatment

Overview

Personalization of treatment to the patient according to unique characteristics in cancer involves such variables as genetics, environment, and lifestyle. All this in medicine is touted to increase efficacy and reduce side effects.

Techniques in Personalized Medicine:

• Genetic Profiling: This involves genetic material both of the patient and of the tumor to identify mutations which would be useful in systemic treatments.
• Pharmacogenomics: By studying the genetic variation of the patient, which influences drug response, researchers are thus better prepared to choose the correct drugs or their side effects can be managed so much more effectively.

Impact: Personalized medicine employs the enhanced effectiveness of the treatments since therapies are fit for the distinctive features of the patient. It is far more accurate than anything that was introduced in the world of options for treatments.

Dr. Vikesh Shah: Leading the Way in Innovative Cancer Care

Currently, Dr. Vikesh Shah is one of those sought-after oncologists hailing from Ahmedabad who attained fame because of his research into alternative treatments for cancer. Advanced cancer treatment in Ahmedabad  offered at his clinic are numerous, and thus he proves his commitment to the most up-to-date personalized care.

It was of essence for Dr. Vikesh Shah that his practice be enhanced with state-of-the-art versions of immunotherapy. He integrates these new treatments into his quest to provide comprehensive and personalized care beyond the standard chemotherapy. He is renowned for his use of the latest technologies and state-of-the-art methods of treatment, optimization of improvement of patients’ outcomes, and quality of life.

Among the best alternative clinics in Ahmedabad, if one is searching in India for complementary or alternative cancer treatment, he will find one operated by Dr. Vikesh Shah. His commitment toward betterment in the field of cancer treatment in Ahmedabad , shifting the terrain toward personalization of options for treatment, brings new hope and innovative solutions for the patients in the fight against cancer.