Treatment

This cancer treatment, commonly called "chemo," uses powerful drugs to target the cancer cells in your body. These drugs kill your cancer cells, or slow their growth and keep them from spreading. Chemotherapy can be used on its own. It can also be combined with other cancer treatments such as surgery or radiation therapy.

The powerful drugs used in chemotherapy don't just kill cancer cells. They can also harm healthy cells in your body. For some people, this causes unpleasant side effects. Let's learn about how chemotherapy can affect you.

Cancer treatments like traditional chemotherapy and radiation therapy are designed to kill cancer cells. But they also harm healthy cells. This can cause serious side effects. Targeted therapy is a different type of treatment. It targets only the cancer cells in your body. This minimizes the damage to healthy cells.

Watch this video to learn why taking your medication as directed is important for your cancer care and quality of life.

This video will inform a patient why oral medication therapy is given and the importance of taking the medications on time and according to the schedule of this therapy.

Explains what chemotherapy is and discusses questions people may have, such as how often they will have treatment and how it will be given. Explains common side effects, why they happen, ways your healthcare providers can help you manage them, and tips for managing them at home. © National Cancer Institute

Your immune system helps detect and destroy invading germs. But because cancer cells are made from your own tissue, your immune system may not always see these cells as something that should be attacked. The goal of biological therapy, also called "immunotherapy," is to help your immune system recognize and fight cancer cells. There are several types of biological therapies. Let's look at the three main types.

Biological therapy patients are treated with substances commonly thought of as "natural." Your treatment may use proteins or other materials naturally produced by the human body. These are usually easier on your body than strong chemotherapy drugs. But biological therapy, also called "immunotherapy," does have side effects.

Immunotherapy is a way of treating disease or infection using the body's immune system. It can be used in some cases to help treat cancer. One form of immunotherapy treatment for cancer is called nonspecific immunotherapy (NSI). Learn more about NSI treatments and how they're used.

Watch this video to learn what radiation therapy means in cancer care.

This uses radiation to kill cancer cells. It can shrink tumors. There are several types of radiation therapy. Let's learn about the main ones.

Radiation therapy is an effective way to destroy cancer cells. But in the process, it can also damage healthy cells in your body. This creates serious side effects for many patients.

This nonsurgical procedure uses beams of radiation to treat tumors or lesions deep inside the brain. The treatment may take several hours. Children may be given general anesthesia to keep them from moving during the procedure, but adults are usually kept awake.

Learn about what happens when lung cancer spreads to the brain.

Radiation therapy can help you in your fight against cancer. It uses high-energy X-rays or particles to kill cancer cells.

This surgery removes your prostate. That's the small gland between a man's bladder and penis. Let's look at surgery with the robot-assisted method. It's less invasive than traditional, open surgery.

During this procedure, your doctor removes a tumor from the inner wall of your bladder. That's the organ that holds your urine. Transurethral resection can help your doctor diagnose and treat bladder cancer.

This surgery removes one or both adrenal glands. These small glands are on top of each of your kidneys. They make hormones that are used for many body functions. You may need to have an adrenal gland removed if your doctor finds cancer or a growth in it. This surgery also helps if your adrenal glands make too many hormones.

This surgery treats tongue cancer. To get all of the cancer, a small or large part of your tongue may be removed. In some cases, the entire tongue must be removed.

This surgery removes cancer (or other abnormal tissue) from your breast. A small amount of healthy tissue is taken, too, but the rest of the breast tissue is spared. The goal of a lumpectomy is to leave you with as much natural breast tissue as possible. We also call it "breast-conserving" surgery.

This surgery removes one or both breasts. Most often, it's used to treat breast cancer. We also use it to prevent breast cancer in those who have a very high risk for the disease. Let's take a moment to learn more.

This video will give the patient an idea of what Neutropenia is, and learn some ways to protect him/herself from infection.

This video will provide a person with some ways to prevent and lessen fatigue, which is a common side effect during cancer treatment.

Fatigue is a common problem for people who have cancer. It's a feeling of deep exhaustion that affects your body and your mind. It's draining, and even sleep doesn't fully refresh you. But there are things you can do. Try these simple strategies to fight fatigue.

This video will teach a patient ways to prevent, lessen, and cope with diarrhea, which is a common side effect of cancer treatment.

Watch this video to learn some ways to reduce and cope with the pain associated with cancer treatment.

Covers pain control medicines for cancer patients, pain control plans, talking with your health care team about pain, and coping with the physical and emotional effects of pain. © National Cancer Institute

This video will give a patient some ways to prevent, lessen and cope with hair loss which is a common side effect of cancer treatment.

After watching this video, the viewer will understand the physical and emotional toll cancer treatment can bring and hear some ways to deal with these effects.

Watch this video to learn some tips to help you sleep better.

Watch this video to learn about how alternative therapies can ease the side effects of treatment.

Watch this video to learn how to eat safely during your cancer treatment.

Watch this video to learn how to be prepared for a national disaster during cancer treatment.

Watch this video to learn tips on how to care for skin and nails during cancer treatment.

Watch this video to learn when you should call your doctor or healthcare provider if you are experiencing side effects of cancer treatment.

After viewing the video, the patient will know the symptoms of depression and anxiety that commonly affect people undergoing cancer treatment, and some positive ways he or she can get help to cope.

This procedure is an injection of anesthetic into the lower back. This type of injection is used to relieve pain that does not respond to oral or IV medications.

This is a problem with the immune system. It's when your white blood cells don't make enough antibodies. What are antibodies? They're proteins that help your body fight germs. Without these antibodies, you get infections more easily than other people do.

Cancer vaccines stimulate your immune system. They help your immune system recognize and fight viruses linked to cancer, or fight cancer cells directly. There are two types of cancer vaccines, "preventative" vaccines and "treatment" vaccines.

Bone marrow is a soft, spongy tissue found inside the large bones in your body. It's where new blood cells are made. Bone marrow can be damaged by disease. It can be destroyed by chemotherapy or radiation therapy. A stem cell transplant uses healthy stem cells to rebuild your damaged bone marrow.

This treatment uses radioactive pellets called "seeds" to destroy prostate cancer cells. The seeds are implanted in your prostate. Each seed is about the size of a grain of rice.

Covers how to make informed choices when looking for complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). © National Cancer Institute

This memory and concentration problem happens to some cancer patients during and after chemotherapy. With chemo brain, you feel like you're living in a haze. This makes it hard to do daily tasks.