Biological therapy, or immunotherapy, uses the body's immune system to attack cancer cells. Materials made by the body or in a laboratory are used to direct, boost or restore the body's natural defenses against cancer. Current clinical trials involve the combined use of biological therapy and other types of treatment in preventing a recurrence of cancer. Patients with low blood cell counts during or after chemotherapy may receive colony stimulating factors, which stimulate the bone marrow to produce white and red blood cells and platelets.
Side effects of biological therapy may include flu-like symptoms such as chills, fever, weakness, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. Patients may also develop a rash, and may bruise or bleed easily. Some side effects may require hospitalization during the treatment.
Stage 0 and Stage I: Cancers are treatable by surgery alone, typically a partial or total gastrectomy and possibly the removal of nearby lymph nodes and fatty tissue.
Stage II: Gastrectomy and the removal of nearby lymph nodes is typically performed.
Stage III: Up to 15 percent of Stage III cancers can be successfully treated by surgery. Chemotherapy and radiation may be used to treat patients in whom surgery is not possible.
Stage IV: Treatment for cancer, which has spread to distant organs, aims to prevent obstruction and control bleeding through surgery rather than seek a cure. Chemotherapy and/or radiation therapy are used to relieve some symptoms. Cancer that has reached Stage IV is generally considered incurable, and treatment is intended to alleviate symptoms, enhance quality of life, and prolong survival rather than cure the disease.
For Stage 0 and Stage I cancers, the five-year survival rates are above 90 percent (although less than 20 percent of American cancer cases are diagnosed at these stages). The five-year survival rate is 50 percent for Stage II, less than 15 percent for Stage III, and less than 3 percent for Stage IV.
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