subject: Hormone Therapy in India [print this page] Hormone Therapy in India Hormone Therapy in India
Hormone Therapy
Chemicals produced by glands like the ovaries and testicles are known as Hormones. They are like chemical messengers that regulate specific body functions.They are produced by different glands in the body and enter the blood stream and travel to other tissues and exert their influence. Certain Hormones can influence some types of cancer cells to grow, such as breast cancer and prostate cancer,endometrium, and adrenal cortex. In some other cases hormonal is used in cancer treatment, that is hormones can destroy cancer cells or make them grow more slowly, or even stop them from growing.
Many functions in our bodies depends on the secretion of hormones. Like the thyroid gland secretes thyroid hormone, which helps in regulating the body temperature, reproduction, bone health, and glucose metabolism. The parathyroid gland secretes parathyroid hormone, which is one of the most important hormone which controls the calcium balance of the blood. The gonads produce the steroidal sex hormones like estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone, which are responsible for secondary sex characteristics in both women and men. These are only some of the hormones circulating in our bodies, illustrate how essential they are for our good health.
Hormone therapy used for the cancer treatment includes taking medications that interfere with the activity of the hormone or stop the hormone production. This therapy can involve surgically removing the gland that is responsible for producing the hormones.
Cancers that grow in hormone-sensitive tissues Hormonal therapy is more effective there. The most common targets of hormone therapy is breast cancer and prostate cancer. Hormonal therapy is also effective for endometrial cancer and thyroid cancer.
How does hormone therapy work?
Certain tumors that arises in tissues and are sensitive to hormonal growth control. Tissues mostly affected by hormones include the prostate and breast. Estrogen indulge growth of some breast cancers while testosterone indulges growth of some prostate cancers .
As because the growth of some tumors is dependent on some specific hormones, so by altering that is either by increasing or decreasing the levels of hormones in the body, can affect the growth of the tumor. The aim of the Hormonal therapy is to control a tumor in these hormone sensitive tissues by manipulating the role of the hormones.
Hormones and hormone antagonists exert their power in many different ways. Some agents have a direct effect on the cancerous cells, while other agents have an indirect effect on hormone producing glands.That is by increasing or decreasing the level of production of their respective hormones.
There are hormone receptors on the surfaces of some cancer cells. These receptors functions like loading docks. At the receptor the hormones attach to the cancer cell and facilitate the growth of the tumor. How effective a tumor is to hormone therapy is based on a number of factors, which include the amount of hormone receptors present on or in the tumor's cells.
Doctor can recommend a hormone receptor test which help to determine treatment options and also helps to learn more about the tumor. This test can judge whether the cancer cells are sensitive to hormones.
A test known as hormone receptor test is done to measures the amount of certain proteins known as hormone receptors in cancer tissue. Hormones like estrogen and progesterone are naturally produced in the body and can attach which these proteins. If the result is positive this indicates that the hormone is probably helping in growth of the cancer cells. In such specific case, hormone therapy can be given so as to block the way the hormone works and also help to keep the hormone away from the cancer cells that is hormone receptors. But in the case where the test is negative, that means the growth of the cancer cell is the affected by hormone.
If the result of the test is positive that is the hormones are affecting your cancer, then the traetment of cancer can be done in one of following ways:
i) Treatment aiming to keep the cancer cells away from receiving the hormones they need to grow
ii) Treatment that aims to treat the glands that produce hormones to reduce the making of hormones
iii) Treatment that aims towards surgery. Surgery to remove glands that produce the hormones, for example the ovaries that produce estrogen or the testicles that produce testosterone
Many factors determines the type of hormone therapy a person will receive like the type and size of the tumor, the person's age,whether hormone receptors is present on the tumor, and some other factors.
What type of Cancers can be treated through Hormonal Therapy ?
Types of cancer that can be treated through Hormonal Therapy are:
Breast cancer
Prostate cancer
Thyroid cancer
Uterine (endometrial) cancer
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