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Treatment Options Learn about the most common forms of treatment and how they're used to fight cancer.
Surgery
Surgery is the oldest form of cancer treatment. It also has an important role in diagnosing and staging (finding the extent) of cancer. Advances in surgical techniques have allowed surgeons to successfully operate on a growing number of patients. Today, less invasive operations often can be done to remove tumors while saving as much normal tissue and function as possible.Surgery offers the greatest chance for cure for many types of cancer, especially those that have not spread to other parts of the body. Most people with cancer will have some type of surgery.
Radiation Therapy Principles
Ever since radiation and radioactivity were discovered over 100 years ago, doctors have looked for ways to use it to treat cancer. Advances in technology and a better understanding of its effects on the body have made radiation therapy an important part of cancer treatment. In fact, about half of all people with cancer will receive radiation for their cancer treatment. This document is written to help you understand what radiation therapy is, how it is used to treat cancer, and what some of the common side effects are. For more detailed information on the possible side effects of radiation and how to deal with them, please see the American Cancer Society document.
Immunotherapy
Many cancer doctors now regard immunotherapy as the "fourth modality," or fourth way, to treat cancer. Many advances against cancer in the future will probably come from this field. In this section you'll learn how the different cells of the immune system work to protect you from disease; the different types of immunotherapy (cancer vaccines, monoclonal antibodies, and nonspecific immunotherapies and adjuvants); and what immunotherapy is available for specific cancers.
Off-Label Drug Use
What is off-label drug use?
In the United States new drugs are tested in 3 phases of clinical trials (research studies) before they are approved for use in the general public. The clinical trials are done to prove that the drug effectively treats a certain medical condition, works the way it is supposed to, and is safe when used as directed. When the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is satisfied that the drug is safe and effective, it works with the maker of the drug to create the drug label . This is not an actual label that sticks onto a container, but a report of very specific information. The FDA also must approve this report, which is made available to health professionals who dispense and prescribe the drug. The drug label contains information about the drug, including the approved doses and how it's to be given to treat the particular medical condition for which it was approved. When a drug is used off-label, it is most commonly given for a different disease or medical condition than described in the FDA-approved label. Or it may be given by a different route, or in a different dosage. For example, chemotherapy approved for one type of cancer treatment and used to treat a different cancer is a common practice in oncology. This is considered off-label use. Off-label is also called "non-approved" or "unapproved" use of the drug.
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