Your Treatment
Your treatment will depend on various factors including the location of the cancer and whether it has spread to another part of the body. It will also depend on your personal health and circumstances.
The best course of treatment for you will be discussed within a team of specialists called a multidisciplinary team (MDT).
This is a group of health care professionals who make decisions together about the recommended treatment for each patient. Your clinical nurse specialist or consultant will go through the different treatments and the side effects they may have. Some of the common treatments are described below.
Your Cancer Type
This section describes some of the common treatments for cancer. You may have one or more of these treatments, but they will not all be appropriate for your type of cancer.
To find out more about treatment options for your specific cancer visit our Cancer Types A-Z page.
Radiotherapy
Radiotherapy uses radiation (usually x-rays) to kill cancer cells. It can sometimes be used to cure cancer completely, and it is often used in combination with other treatments to make them more effective.
A machine is used to aim the radiation directly at the area of your body where the cancer cells were found. You may be given the radiation in an injection or a drink instead. Sometimes a piece of radioactive metal can be implanted into your body near to the cancer – this is called brachytherapy.
You will need to visit a hospital to be given the radiotherapy, and you may need to go back for repeated sessions over several weeks.
As well as killing cancer cells, radiotherapy can also damage healthy cells. Radiotherapy can make your skin sore, and make you feel tired and sick.
Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy uses medicine to kill cancer cells. It can sometimes be used to cure cancer completely, and it is often used in combination with other treatments to make them more effective.
The medicine may be given to you through a tube into your vein (usually in a hospital), or with tablets you can take at home. Your chemotherapy treatment may be spread over several sessions and last several months.
As well as killing cancer cells, chemotherapy drugs can also damage healthy cells, especially your skin and hair. Chemotherapy can make you feel very tired and sick, and often causes hair loss.
Surgery
Surgery is used to remove cancer tissue. Your cancer team will use all the scans and tests to work out the best approach. Sometimes cancer tissue can be removed through a very small cut (“keyhole”) which might mean only a short stay in hospital. Sometimes it will involve major surgery and a much longer recovery time.
A surgeon who specialises in a specific part of the body will perform the operation. Examples of surgery include removing all or part of the prostate gland to treat prostate cancer, or removing the ovaries to treat ovarian cancer.
If you have major surgery and need to stay in hospital, you will be visited by a physiotherapist on the ward. It’s good to get moving as soon as possible. This helps you recover and reduces the chances of other problems, like blood clots.
The side effects and recovery time depend on the type of surgery you have.
You can read more about when surgery is used and how to prepare for surgery on the Macmillan website.
Cancer drugs
There are several types of drug used to treat different types of cancer.
Cancer drugs are often used in combination with other types of treatment. Not all cancer drugs will work against all cancers.
Hormone therapy uses medicine to slow down or stop the growth of cancer by lowering the amount of certain hormones in your body. Hormone therapy can sometimes be used to treat breast cancer, prostate cancer, ovarian cancer and womb cancer.
Immunotherapy drugs help your body’s immune system to destroy cancer cells. There are several different types, and you may have a blood test to see if immunotherapy could work for you.
Targeted drugs have been developed to attack cancer cells. Cancer cells look, or grow, differently to normal cells and the drugs work by “targeting” those differences. They are often used to treat melanoma and leukaemia.
Other cancer treatments
There are many different ways to treat cancer. You can find more information about other types of treatment by clicking on the links below.
Not all treatments will be appropriate for your type of cancer.
Clinical Trials
Following your cancer diagnosis you may be offered the opportunity to take part in a clinical trial. You will be offered information about available trials that you may be eligible for. You do not have to take part, but if, having read about the trial, you are keen for more information, someone from the research team will spend time with you explaining what is involved.
If you would like to take part in a clinical trial speak to your cancer care team.
You can find more information about clinical trials here.