Medical technology cancer - Mendoza, Cocjin, Ibasco, Dimagiba

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ABSTRACT

This paper intends to discuss the most recent cures incancer namely chemotherapy, radiation therapy, genetherapy, and targeted therapy in the Philippines. Thepaper will also discuss the cost, side effects and theavailability of these treatments. The paper will thenstudy the diversity of the rich and poor and how thisdiversity affects how treatment is distributed in thecountry. It is also a study on how the governmentorganizations respond to the increasing incidence of cancer in the country and how they help those whoare marginalized in terms of treatments. It is also astudy on non-government organizations acting moreto help the marginalized than the government.

1.

INTRODUCTION

According to the World Health Organization, canceris a generic term for a large group of diseases that canactually affect the different parts of our body. It is aclass of diseases wherein a group of cells exhibits anabnormal and uncontrolled growth, invasion and evenmetastasis. Metastasis is the ability of the cancer cellsto actually affect the other parts of the body. Othersmay term this as malignant neoplasm.

1.1 Cancer

This is one of the diseases that are being feared byeveryone. This is maybe because almost all thepeople who actually have cancers may die especiallyif the severity of the cancer is already very high.Many actually believe that the cure for cancer is notreally effective and that those are very expensive forsomeone who does not have the money to spend.Cancer is one of the leading causes of death in theworld. It killed almost 7.4 million people in the year2004. It caused 13% of all the deaths there was inthat year only and this number keeps on increasingevery year. On the other hand, it is said that 30% of the cancer deaths could have been prevented. Amongall the types of cancer that are present, lung, stomach,colorectal, liver and breast cancer cause the mostnumber of cancer deaths and tobacco is the majorcontributor to cancer cases. It is shown below thenumber of deaths per type of cancer. [1]According to the World Health Organization, in thePhilippines, there were approximately 44, 000Filipinos who died because of cancer in the year 2005alone as shown in the graph below.

Figure 1-1

The two graphs show us the type of cancer that is theleading cause of cancer deaths in the Philippines.This was taken by the World Health Organization inthe year 2005. For men, trachea, bronchus and lungcancer are the most common cause of cancer deathsin the Philippines while, for women, breast cancer isthe most common type of cancer that causes cancerdeaths.

Figure 1-2

Figure 1-31.2 Poverty

In the Philippine society poverty is often associatedwith persons having no proper meals a day, no proper job, no proper shelter and a like. In accordance tothis, Asian Development Bank’s meaning on povertyis: “While usually associated with the lack of incomes, poverty can be defined more generally as

astate of want in relation to a social standard

. Thissuggests an absolute notion of poverty that says thatevery person is entitled to a minimum level of well-being, regardless of how affluent others may be.Measuring poverty relative to a poverty threshold, orsome predetermined consumption standard implies anabsolute notion of what it means to be poor. Theextent of poverty will be higher or lower, therefore,depending upon how high or low the poverty line isset. Commonly used measures of poverty such as thepoverty incidence, depth of poverty, and severity of poverty are all taken relative to a povertythreshold.”[3]

2. CANCER TREATMENTS

With the current advancement in medical technologythere have been various cures that were developed inaccordance to cancer patients. Some of these curesare chemotherapy, radiation therapy, gene therapyand targeted therapy.

2.1 Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy, also called “chemo” is one way totreat people with cancer. This therapy treats diseasesby chemicals that destroy cancer cells to preventthem from spreading and eventually shrink the size of the tumor for the surgeon to be able to remove it.Chemotherapy works throughout the body. Its goal isto destroy cancer cells wherever they may be, even if they have spread to parts of the body far from theoriginal location of the tumor site.Chemotherapy destroys cancer cells byinterfering with their growth, by preventing themfrom reproducing, and in some cases, inducing thecell to program itself to die. Also in some cases,chemotherapy may be used to shrink a tumor so thatthe surgeon won’t have a hard time to remove itcompletely. Chemotherapy can also be given toenhance the cell destroying effects of radiation. [5]Today, researchers are developing neweragents based upon their increasing knowledge of themolecular structures within the cell that can betargets for new compounds that interfere with thecell's ability to grow and reproduce it, sparing the restof the body of other side effects.However it is said that Chemotherapy agenttargeted for cancer cells can also affect the patient’snormal healthy cells. That results in damage tohealthy tissue which is one of the main side effects of chemotherapy. The area of these effects on normaltissue varies depending upon the type of drugs thatare used and how the patient’s body reacts. But overtime, normal cells will recover and continuefunctioning as cancer cells die off. Having thistreatment can also affect your bone marrow and thebody's ability to produce red blood cells. These aresome effects that could be experienced: [6] [7]a)

Nausea and vomitingb)

Mouth soresc)

Fatigued)

Anaemiae)

Low platelets and white blood cellsf)

Hair lossg)

Fertility (for women)Chemotherapy in the Philippines is the most widelyuse cancer cure. It is available in a lot of hospitals inthe country however it is said that each chemotherapysession in the Philippines would cost around P50, 000and the number of sessions will still depend on theseverity of the cancer. [4]

2.2 Radiation therapy

Radiation Therapy, also called “radiotherapy”,”x-raytherapy”, or “irradiation” is the use of high-energyrays or particles to kill cancer cells. This treatment isused to cure cancer by destroying cancer cells,controlling cancer cells to keep them from growing,or reducing cancer symptoms by damaging theirgenetic material that makes these cells impossible togrow or spread. Although radiation damages bothcancer cells and normal cells, most normal cells canrecover from the effects of radiation and functionproperly. Radiation therapy’s goal is to damage asmany cancer cells as possible, while limiting harm tonearby healthy tissue.There are different types of radiation. Thereare certain types that can penetrate more deeply intothe body than can others. Some types can be veryfinely controlled to treat only a small area withoutdamaging nearby tissues and organs. And other typesare better for treating larger areas.There are also different ways to deliver theradiation. It can be by External radiation therapy

,

orby internal radiation therapy. External radiationtherapy is usually given on patients who do not needto stay in the hospital. External radiation therapy isused to treat most types of cancer, including cancerof the bladder, brain, breast, cervix, larynx, lung,prostate, and vagina. In addition, external radiationmay be used to relieve pain or ease other problemswhen cancer spreads to other parts of the body fromthe primary site. Internal radiation therapy on theother hand, may require a hospital stay. It usesradiation that is placed very close to or inside thetumor. The radiation source is usually sealed in asmall holder called an implant. Implants may be inthe form of thin wires, plastic tubes, or seeds. Theimplant is put directly into the body.The difference of this treatment is it does notkill cancer cells right away. It takes days or weeks of treatment before cancer cells start to die. Then,cancer cells keep dying for weeks or months afterradiation therapy ends. Radiation therapy does nothurt while it is being given. But the side effects thatpeople may get from radiation therapy can cause painor discomfort. [15]Figure 2-1It is said that every session of radiationtherapy will cost the patient PHP5, 000 to PHP 8,000. The treatment will last for about 30-35 sessionsdepending on the disease.[16]

2.3 Gene therapy

Genes, who are hereditary from our bloodline, are thebasic physical and functional units of heredity. Genesare exact sequences of bases that create instructionson how to make proteins. Although genes are theones thought of normally, it’s the proteins thatperform most life functions and even make up themajority of cellular structures. When genes arealtered so that the encoded proteins are unable tocarry out their normal functions, genetic disorderscan result. [8]Gene therapy is a technique for correctingdefective genes responsible for disease development.In most gene therapy studies, a "normal" gene isinserted into the genome to replace an "abnormal,"disease-causing gene. A carrier molecule called avector must be used to deliver the therapeutic gene tothe patient's target cells. Currently, the most commonvector is a virus that has been genetically altered tocarry normal human DNA. Viruses have evolved away of encapsulating and delivering their genes tohuman cells in a pathogenic manner. Scientists havetried to take advantage of this capability andmanipulate the virus genome to remove disease-causing genes and insert therapeutic genes.Target cells such as the patient's liver orlung cells are infected with the viral vector. Thevector then unloads its genetic material containingthe therapeutic human gene into the target cell. Thegeneration of a functional protein product from thetherapeutic gene restores the target cell to a normalstate.

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