Originally posted by thinker:
Need kind advices from ppl here on [b]Malignant Neoplasm/
Carcinoma Stomach (late stage). Will be going for
chemotherapy treatment consultation soon.
1. Any good specialist or doctor for such illnesses?
2. Any experienced remedy/treatment other than surgery,
chemotherapy & radiatherapy?
3. Does Traditional Chinese Medicine help? Any recommedation?
4. Any way to reduces/ease the pain while undergoing
chemotherapy?
5. What r the beneficial food against cancer? (Website search:
Cabbage, Broccoli & Broccoli Sprout)
6. How long can a patient stay alive in such stage (approximation)?
Anybody with real life experience to share?
7. How much is the cost of treatment like?
8. Any other beneficial advices?
Any PM welcome.
[/b]
I presume a biopsy has been done and the diagnosis has been
confirmed? Your doctor will be able to discuss details of further
treatment and prognosis.
1. Which specialist is required depends on the extent of the
disease and the objective of the treatment. If the cancer can be
resected, a good cancer surgeon is what you need. The only chance
of cure in gastric cancer is early detection and surgery. Following
surgery, chemotherapy may be required although I regret to say that
stomach cancer isn't particularly sensitive to treatment. All these
specialists are available at the National Cancer Centre in SGH and
the National Cancer Institute at NUH. Of course, if the cancer is
terminal, then palliative medicine and hospice care will be
required. That is available in all the major hospitals in
Singapore, including TTSH.
2. Speaking as a medical doctor, none that I am aware of.
3. TCM has not been shown to provide a cure, but then neither will
western medicine for advanced cancer.
4. There are medication that can reduce and help one cope with the
adverse effects of treatment. TCM may have a role in this. LHL used
Chinese medication in this manner when he had chemotherapy.
5. Anti-oxidants said to be useful but once the cancer has
developed, I have not known of any to be cured by a change of
diet.
6. The prognosis and survival depends on multiple factors, such as
the histological subtype of the cancer, the grade, the stage, age
of patient and the individual's fitness at the time of diagnosis.
Your doctor is in a better position to answer this, having all the
required information to make an estimate.
7. Depends on what treatment is required. based on the stage of
disease and whether the patient is a subsidized patient. Cancer
treatment is never cheap, but the good news is that the
chemotherapy for gastric cancer is not particularly expensive. The
bad news is that it isn't particularly effective either. It is
difficult to give any ball park figure not knowing how advance the
condition is, the likely period of survival etc. But once your
doctor explains the treatment options available and the likely
survival, you can compute the likely costs.
