Where are cancer cells most likely to escape being killed by chemotherapy drugs? Firstly, they may escape wherever there are big deposits. One of the biggest deposits is often, but not always, the primary cancer. There may be a choice between surgery and radiation to tackle these large deposits. Secondly, there are parts of the body where there seems to be some sort of barrier to the penetration of chemotherapy drugs. Radiotherapy can be used to treat these areas. They are the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord), the testis and the ovary. For example, in acute lymphoblastic leukaemia of children, the chance of leukaemia cells getting into the central nervous system, testis or ovary is so high that preventive treatment of these areas by radiation is recommended. This addition to the usual chemotherapy treatment has been shown to improve the cure rate.
Bone marrow transplantation is a special instance where radiation is combined with other treatments to produce some cures. The preparation includes radiation of the whole body. Although bone marrow transplantation has been tried for many types of cancer, the only ones it can cure are certain types of leukaemia. The entire treatment package is very arduous, dangerous and lengthy and the chance of cure is usually not high. Try very hard to get all the facts before agreeing to this type of treatment.
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Cancer
