What are the different types of cancer treatment?
In the treatment of cancer, different types of therapies are used that can be divided into:
- Local therapy:
- surgery
- radiotherapy
- Interventional radiology
- Systemic therapy:
- chemotherapy
- hormone therapy
- immunotherapy
- target therapeutics
Surgery and radiotherapy are local treatments and aim to remove or destroy tumour cells in a specific part of the body.
Systemic therapy, which, as its name implies, acts on the whole body, includes several types of drugs that can be included in different groups. It is usually administered into the bloodstream and is intended to destroy or slow the growth of cancer cells that may have metastasized beyond the original tumour.
How is the choice of treatment made?
The choice of treatment is made on a case-by-case basis, based on the experience of the oncology team, always taking into account a real analysis of the risks and benefits that each one entails. However, cancer treatment depends on:
- the size of the tumor
- Type of tumor
- Tumor location
- Person's age
- The person's health status
- if there is spread to other parts of the body (metastases)
When are systemic therapies used?
Systemic therapies can be used when:
- there is no visible systemic disease (e.g. complementary to surgery to remove a tumour)
- in more advanced stages of the disease (there is local disease that cannot be removed through surgery)
- There are other organs involved (metastases)
What are the main side effects of cancer treatments?
Patients undergoing cancer treatments may or may not have side effects depending on the type of treatment, such as chemotherapy.
The main ones are:
- fever
- nausea and vomiting
- diarrhoea
- constipation
- mucositis
- Rash
- hand-foot-mouth syndrome
- neuropathy
- fatigue
Learn about side effects, querying <span class="TextRun SCXW261637407 BCX0" lang="PT-PT" xml:lang="PT-PT" data-contrast="auto">page de each treatment specifico.
Source: Portuguese Society of Oncology