For any oncological disease, it is most important to determine its development at an early stage, when the chance of a favorable outcome of treatment is high. Each person must constantly monitor their well-being and focus on the first symptoms in order to prevent the development of serious diseases such as cancer. The first sign of cancer is an elevated body temperature (37 to 38 degrees). In many cases, subfebrile temperature in cancer occurs long before the appearance of the main signs of malaise and does not go away within 6-7 months. If you pay attention to such a factor in time and undergo a comprehensive study, you can recover from dangerous oncology at an early stage of its development. What does the temperature indicate in oncology?
Reasons
Most often, in the first and second stages of oncology, the temperature increases with damage to the colon, lungs, lymphoma, lymphocytic leukemia and lymphosarcoma. The body temperature in cancer rises at the moment when the cancerous tumor is actively spreading and increasing in size,releasing antibodies, proteins and waste products into the blood stream and adjacent tissues. Human immunity pays special attention to them and enters into an active struggle.
Subfebrile body temperature - what is it? When a malignant formation begins to damage more and more tissues, leading to an inflammatory process, with insufficient protection of the immune system, the patient immediately feels an increase in body temperature from 37 to 38 degrees. The causes of subfebrile temperature in oncology are as follows:
- Infection and pathogens begin to penetrate into the internal organs of a person due to insufficient protection of the immune system.
- If the patient is already on therapy to fight cancer, then the body temperature may increase due to an adverse reaction to drugs and especially to chemotherapy.
- The temperature in stage 4 oncology is kept at a high level for a long time due to the fact that the malignant neoplasm has managed to spread to a large frequently diseased organ and metastasizes.
If a patient suddenly begins to feel a rise in temperature during oncology or a general malaise, it is important for him to immediately seek help from a doctor. You do not need to start using any medications on your own, as a high temperature may be a response to tumors. It is important to tell the doctor about this and describe the circumstances in full detail.
Other causes of fever
Is the temperature always atoncology increased? No not always. And most often, the following conditions cause prolonged temperature:
- Changes in hormonal levels in the body of a pregnant woman;
- thermoneurosis;
- in the absence of disease, when such a body temperature is considered acceptable for the body;
- tuberculosis;
- brucellosis;
- toxoplasmosis;
- temperature tail of infectious diseases;
- autoimmune lesions - lupus erythematosus, Crohn's disease, rheumatoid arthritis;
- worm infestations;
- spread of infection throughout the body;
- Addison's disease;
- taking certain medications;
- thyroid disease;
- hidden sepsis and inflammation;
- AIDS;
- viral hepatitis;
- intestinal lesions.
What stages are there?
Subfebrile body temperature - what is it? This term is called a steady increase in body temperature from 37 to 38 degrees. The following stages of malaise are distinguished:
- immunity loses protection, and infectious activity begins in the body;
- the level of leukocytes and mediators in the blood rises;
- hypothalamus begins to actively raise body temperature;
- temperature drops to 37 degrees;
- there is an active decrease in body temperature due to accelerated heat transfer or taking anti-inflammatory drugs. Low temperatures tend to be short-lived.
Accompanyingsymptoms
What does temperature indicate in oncology? In addition to a sharp increase in body temperature, doctors identify the following symptoms of malaise:
- Pain in the presence of a large number of tumor foci.
- The beginning of the development of an extensive inflammatory process in the body due to the spread of the tumor. From time to time, the patient feels a fever, and his condition only gets worse.
- There is general fatigue, weakness. If earlier the patient could work normally all day, and his productivity was at its best, now he quickly gets tired, feels drowsy and lazy.
- Complete or partial loss of appetite, resulting in rapid weight loss. The patient can lose weight up to 10 kilograms, while not doing any sports and not arranging any diets.
- Strong pallor of the skin is noticeable. If the tumor formation spreads to the liver, then the skin tone becomes yellowish. Severe hyperpigmentation of the skin occurs, red spots and other strange rashes form.
If you have at least two of the symptoms described above, it is important to immediately go to the doctor and go through all the studies prescribed by him, take urine and blood tests. The signs themselves are not one hundred percent proof of cancer, as they are quite possible in other diseases.
Intestinal and prostate cancer
In the presence of a malignant formation, negative changes can occur throughout the body. Processinflammation is formed in any area, including the mucous membrane of the mouth, eyes and genital organs. Small wounds on the body now heal for a very long time, fester under a crust of blood, the skin ceases to regenerate normally.
The most common symptoms of bowel and prostate cancer include:
- pain when going to the toilet;
- presence of pulling pain in the lower abdomen, which often moves to the back;
- full bladder syndrome - a person wants to use the toilet, even if he recently went to it;
- headache, dizziness;
- sudden fever and chills;
- pain in muscles and bones, which indicates pathology in the hematopoietic system or bone metastases;
- blood can be seen in stools or urine (the stool darkens, the urine becomes pinkish);
- appear incomprehensible discharge of pus with an unpleasant odor from the anus and genitals;
- patient feeling unwell and tired;
- skin and mucous membranes are constantly dry;
- diarrhea present;
- sharp local pains in the body that remain even after a certain time;
- with cancer of the kidneys and intestines, the body temperature rises already at the first stage.
Types of cancer and its manifestations
An increase in body temperature in oncology is also observed in cervical cancer in women, when the tumor formation begins to actively germinate and spread to nearby tissues. However, women oftenthere is bleeding from the vagina outside the days of menstruation.
Temperature in lung cancer passes against the background of a strong and dry cough. As a result of such a cough, the patient's voice begins to hoarse and wheeze, and sometimes disappears altogether with thyroid cancer. With cancer of the larynx, the patient becomes difficult to swallow, he has a sore throat.
Skin rashes
The skin of a person also suffers greatly. They appear:
- bright spots;
- a mole or birthmark increases significantly in size, the edges become uneven, and the color changes;
- the patient feels unpleasant itching, burning and tingling at the site of neoplasms.
Fever in lung cancer
Temperature in lung cancer occurs due to a malignant process inside the bronchi themselves. The tumor begins to actively develop and spread, which leads to inflammation and deterioration of the patient's immune defense.
High temperature does not subside for many days. The patient develops pneumonia, a cold, a sore throat, as well as other diseases of a similar nature. Also, the patient should be alerted by the fact that during the treatment of the disease the temperature does not go away for a long time or returns immediately after the end of therapy.
Diagnostic measures
In order to recognize oncology at the first stage of its development, the following diagnostic methods are used:
- clinical blood test - for malignancy will beindicate low hemoglobin and high white blood cells;
- biochemical blood test - a tumor formation changes the balance of substances in the blood, which can be easily determined by the test;
- test for tumor markers - a malignant tumor releases its waste products that can be detected in the patient's blood;
- CT and MRI - with the help of such procedures, the specialist will be able to consider the size, shape of the tumor, as well as the breadth of the spaces occupied;
- biopsy - under a microscope in the laboratory, the tumor cells themselves are studied, the rate of spread of cancer cells and their aggressiveness are revealed.
Temperature after chemotherapy
Why does it occur? With this method of treatment, a large number of chemical reagents are introduced into the patient's body, which, in addition to tumor cells, also affect he althy ones. A high temperature after chemotherapy appears due to a sharp decrease in immunity.
Immediately after the end of the course of chemotherapy, doctors prescribe immunotherapy to the patient, the purpose of which is to increase the overall tone of the body and restore the former immunity.
With poor immune protection, the patient's body becomes the main target for pathogens and various viruses. To maintain the patient's condition, the specialist prescribes special medicines.
First stage cancer treatment
What to do with the temperature in oncology? First of all, it is important to go to an appointment with a doctor who will determine the therapy and prescribe an effectivetreatment. During radiotherapy, elevated body temperature increases the sensitivity of malignant cells to radiation, which brings good results. Recently, physicians have often begun to use local hyperthermia in conjunction with radiotherapy.
If there is an increase in temperature in oncology, the formation can be treated by the following methods:
- Direct effect on the skin through heating.
- Intracavitary exposure - a specialized probe with a heating head is inserted into the diseased organ (intestine, pharynx or stomach).
- Internal - in this case, a sensor is inserted inside the patient, which, due to the reaction of the body, provokes a local increase in temperature in oncology.
- Regional hyperthermia - heating of the whole limb: legs or arms.
- Global hyperthermia - extensive heating occurs, spreading to the entire body. It is most often used in the presence of an extensive lesion in stage IV cancer, when metastases are actively spreading to nearby organs.
It is important to remember that it is important to treat cancer at any stage, even at the initial stage, immediately in order to prevent the patient's condition from worsening and achieve a quick recovery. The doctor will help you choose an effective and comprehensive treatment.
