The best treatment for your specific type of cancer is recommended after your doctor looks at several different factors, including the type of cancer you have, overall health and medical condition and whether your cancer is curable. How the treatment will prevent the spread of cancer or relieve the symptoms you may be having as a result is also considered.
When patients are told of their cancer diagnosis they are often in shock, disbelief or denial. And then when the doctors tell them they should have surgery, chemotherapy or radiation therapy as part of their treatment, you may have unpleasant memories may impact your decision-making ability. But quite often you will have more reasons to be optimistic about your treatment than discouraged! Modern medicine makes new strides, every day, in developing treatments that are more tolerable and less invasive. One of the newest focuses in cancer treatment is called Precision, or Personalized Medicine.
Precision medicine uses molecular (the particles or compounds that form molecules) testing, including testing of your DNA, family genetics or other elements in your body’s specific cells or DNA makeup. By analyzing your personalized molecular biology, doctors can prescribe the best treatment for you to fight the cancer more effectively.
Cancer treatments typically recommended by your doctor may include one or more of:
- Surgery,
- Chemotherapy,
- Radiation therapy,
- Hormonal therapy,
- Immunotherapy,
- Clinical trials,
- Stem cell transplantation,
- Precision medicine treatments, or
- Alternative or complementary therapies.
By combining treatments you can get the maximum benefit. Whether the treatments are given at the same time or sequentially (also called multi-modality treatment) the goal is to give you the best care.
You can learn more about each of the individual treatments above by clicking on this link here.
