Treating Cancer

Cancer treatments fall into four major categories: surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, and immunotherapy. These treatments are typically used in combination, with the location, size and stage of the tumor as well as overall health determining which treatment or treatments you will receive.

• Surgery. More than half of all cancer patients undergo some type of surgery.
• Radiation relies on large doses of high-energy beams or particles to destroy targeted cancer cells.
• Chemotherapy uses powerful drugs to kill cancer cells or control their growth.
• Biologic therapy uses new drugs that target abnormal tumor biologic pathways.
• Immunotherapy stimulates the body's existing defense systems to fight cancer.
• Gene therapy identifies the defective genes that cause cancer or increase cancer risk and replaces them with normal copies.
• Clinical trials may provide options for patients who wish to participate in novel new therapies for their cancers or whose cancer is no longer responding to existing, standard therapies. The Cancer Institute has dozens of clinical trials underway at any time. For more information about our ongoing study protocols, speak with your physician.