Your healthcare provider will decide on your specific cancer treatment based on:
Your overall health and your health history
Extent of the disease, including type, grade, stage, and location
Your ability to handle certain medicines, procedures, or therapies
Outlook for the course of the disease
Your opinion or preference
Cure the cancer (remission)
Prevent the return of the cancer (recurrence)
Prolong life (when remission or cure is not possible)
Ease the symptoms. This is called palliation. Palliation is treatment for a symptom of the cancer, such as pain. It is not a treatment for the cancer itself. The goal of palliation is to improve the quality of life and provide comfort and support.
The usual methods for treating cancer are:
Surgery
Radiation therapy
Chemotherapy
Hormone therapy
Immunotherapy or biological therapy
Targeted therapy
Cancer may also be treated with high-dose therapy with stem cell rescue. High doses of chemotherapy may be used with or without radiation therapy to treat the cancer. The dose of treatment is so high that the body's bone marrow cannot recover. The stem cell rescue is a way to replace the body's bone marrow to provide a functioning blood and immune system.