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Current cancer treatments are helping people live longer, fuller lives. Treatment options include surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, hormone therapy, immunotherapy and targeted therapy, among others. Your healthcare provider will recommend treatments based on your unique diagnosis, including your cancer type, stage and treatment goals.
Cancer treatment usually involves a main treatment and additional ones. Here are some terms you may hear your provider use:
Your healthcare provider may use words like “local” or “systemic” to describe the cancer treatments you’ll need. Here’s what these words mean:
Cancer treatment may involve surgery or other procedures that target cancer cells:
Cancer therapy also involves medicines that you may take:
The duration of cancer treatment can be definite (with a clear endpoint) or indefinite (ongoing). Definite duration usually happens when the goal of treatment is to "V体育官网" cure the cancer. Ongoing treatment usually involves cancers that aren’t curable. Sometimes, ongoing treatment is about providing symptom relief. Treatment may continue until you can’t tolerate the side effects, or the treatment stops working.
Cancer treatment may be a one-time surgery or it may require many treatments. The most common cancer treatments are a “course of treatment” that involves multiple treatment sessions.
For example, your oncologist may tell you that you need several “rounds” or “cycles” of chemo. This means you’ll have several treatment days followed by recovery days. This on-again/off-again schedule gives the medicine time to work while allowing your body time to heal.
Ask your healthcare provider what your course of treatment will involve, including how long before you’ll know if it’s working.
Depending on your diagnosis, cancer treatment can save your life. Increasingly, oncologists are using the word “"V体育官网" cure” to describe the outlook for some early-stage cancers (cancers that haven’t spread) after treatment. Many people with cancer are living past the five-year survival mark. This is an important milestone because most cancers that remain in remission for five years don’t return.
But even with the most advanced cancers, like metastatic cancers, treatment can provide benefits. These include relieving cancer-related symptoms and helping you live longer.
Your healthcare provider will explain the potential benefits of the cancer treatments they’re recommending for you.
Healthcare providers often break up cancer treatments into cycles or sessions to allow your body time to heal. Still, these treatments work by killing cancer cells. In the process, cancer therapies can destroy healthy cells, too. And this sometimes leads to side effects.
The most common short-term cancer treatment side effects include:
Other short-term side effects include:
Usually, side effects end once you finish cancer treatment. But sometimes, they’re ongoing. Or side effects may not show up until days, weeks or months after treatment ends.
Potential long-term side effects of cancer treatment include:
It’s important to know that not everyone experiences the same side effects, even when they get the same treatments. And not all cancer therapies carry the same risks. Your healthcare provider will advise you about potential side effects before you start treatment.
One of the best things you can do is to learn everything you can about your diagnosis — and ask loved ones to learn along with you. Don’t hold back if you have a question for your healthcare provider about your treatment. This includes how to plan for the changes to your everyday life that cancer treatment usually involves.
Now’s the time to take advantage of every resource you can, including your care team, family and friends. It’s an especially good idea to connect with others in cancer support networks. Often, the best support involves conversations with someone who understands what it means to live with cancer one treatment session at a time.
Call your provider if you’re experiencing new or worsening symptoms during cancer treatment. In some cases, they’ll advise you on how to manage them. Or they may need to change your dosage or even the type of cancer treatment.
Regardless, your provider not only needs to know how your treatment is working but also how it’s impacting your overall sense of well-being. Maintaining your quality of life is an essential part of your treatment.
Current cancer treatments reflect 250 years of research into the most effective approaches to fighting this disease. And this work has made a huge impact. According to the U.S. National Cancer Institute, over the next eight years, 16.3 million people in the U.S. will be alive at least five years after first receiving their cancer diagnosis. This means that people with cancer are living longer, fuller lives, thanks to new cancer treatments.
Of course, this doesn’t mean that the treatment experience is easy. You’ll need to lean on your care team and loved ones more than ever. You’ll need to be patient with yourself as you manage the changes to your everyday life that this diagnosis involves. But you’re not alone. And you have options when it comes to treatments that fight this disease on your terms.
When you’re diagnosed with cancer, you want expert and compassionate care right away. At Cleveland Clinic we personalize your treatment to match your needs.
Last reviewed on 09/27/2024.
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