Specialist Care
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Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy is the use of drugs to target and destroy cancer cells. Cancer cells are human cells which have undergone mutation and no longer function normally because they divide and grow quicker than healthy cells.
It is a systemic medication, meaning it travels through the whole body and can therefore damage fast growing healthy cells as well and this is why chemotherapy can cause side effects like hair loss and nausea during treatment.
There are many ways that this treatment can be administered, but the two most common are orally or intravenously. The goals of chemotherapy depend on your type of cancer and how far it has spread. Sometimes, the goal is to cure cancer by destroying all the cancer cells and keep it from returning.
In other cases, the treatment is used to slow down the growth of the cancer cells and prevent it from spreading. The treatment can also help ease the symptoms caused by cancer.
Radiation Therapy
Radiation therapy/radiotherapy is the treatment of cancer using high energy X-rays. They deposit energy into cancer cells causing them to die and thereby preventing further growth and spread of the disease. The delivered radiation cannot be seen or felt and thus treatment sessions are completely painless. Modern radiation techniques are designed to spare normal tissue as much as possible, while delivering a high dose to the tumour area. Irradiation of normal cells is unavoidable.
Treatment effects and side effects are local, meaning that usually only the area receiving treatment will have side effects. For example, treatment over the stomach may cause nausea or treatment over the bowel may cause diarrhoea.
Radiation oncology is sometimes delivered in combination with chemotherapy that acts as a radiation sensitiser, thereby improving the cell-kill of the radiation.
Brachytherapy
Brachytherapy is a cancer treatment in which radioactive material sealed inside a seed, pellet, wire, or capsule is implanted in the body using a needle or catheter. During brachytherapy, radioactive material is placed close to or in the tumour to be treated.
The radiation given off by this source damages the DNA of nearby cancer cells, thereby eliminating cancer cells and reducing tumours. Brachytherapy is most commonly used to treat prostate cancer.
After many months, the radioactivity level of the implants reduces to nil. The seeds are inactive and remain in the patient’s body without any lasting effect.
Stereotactic Radiosurgery
Stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) is a non-surgical radiation therapy that uses many precisely focused radiation beams to treat tumours most commonly in the brain.
It uses 3D imaging to target high doses of radiation to the affected area with minimal impact on the surrounding healthy tissue.
Like other forms of radiation, stereotactic radiosurgery works by damaging the DNA of the targeted cells. The affected cells then lose the ability to reproduce, which causes tumours to shrink.
There are a number of ways that SRS can be delivered, including linear accelerator (LINAC), gamma knife and proton beam therapy.
Palliative Care
Palliative care is specialised medical care provided by a trained medical team concentrated on improving the quality of life of a patient and lowering the symptom burden. It focuses on preventing, managing and relieving the symptoms and side effects of cancer and treatment as well as supporting people living with cancer, along with their family, friends, and caregivers.
Palliative care is based on the needs of the patient, not on the patient’s prognosis. Anyone, regardless of age or type and stage of cancer, may receive palliative care before, after, and during treatment.
Immunotherapy
Immunotherapy is a type of cancer treatment that uses substances made by the body or in a laboratory to boost the immune system and help the body find and destroy cancer cells. It helps the immune system work better at destroying cancer cells, stopping or slowing the growth and preventing cancer from spreading to other parts of the body.
Immunotherapy can treat many different types of cancer and can be used alone or in combination with chemotherapy and/or other cancer treatments.
Hormonal Therapy
Hormone therapy is a type of cancer treatment that removes, blocks, or adds specific hormones to the body.
Some types of cancer use the body’s natural hormones to fuel their growth and so by blocking them, the cancer growth is controlled or reduced.
Examples of cancers that respond to this type of treatment include breast, prostate, ovary and endometrial cancer.
Targeted Therapy
Targeted therapy is the use of drugs to help stop cancer from growing and spreading by targeting specific genes and proteins found in cancer cells or cells related to cancer growth.
Target therapy is often used with chemotherapy and other treatments.
Clinical Trials
Most of the advances in chemotherapy over the past decade can be attributed to clinical research. This research involves new or existing treatments that are conducted according to a protocol which is approved by an Ethics Committee and Medicines Control Council.
We offer our patients the opportunity to participate in certain clinical trials, should they fit the specific criteria for that trial. This gives our patients access to new and exciting drugs that are still in development.