Treatment

Essential Question:

How is skin cancer treated?

Cancer is treated with surgery, chemotherapy, or radiation — or sometimes a combination of these treatments. The choice of treatment depends on:

  • the type of cancer someone has
  • the stage of the tumor (meaning how much the cancer has spread within the body, if at all)

Surgery is the oldest form of treatment for cancer. During surgery, the doctor tries to take out as many cancer cells as possible.

Fact: 3 out of every 5 people with cancer will have an operation to remove it.

Chemotherapy is the use of anti-cancer medicines (drugs) to treat cancer. These medicines are sometimes taken as a pill, but usually are given through a special intravenous line, also called an IV. The medicine flows from the bag into a vein, which puts the medicine into the blood, where it can travel throughout the body and attack cancer cells.

Timeframe: can be given over a number of weeks to months

Radiation therapy uses high-energy waves, such as X-rays to damage and destroy cancer cells. It can cause tumors to shrink and even go away completely.

Fact: Radiation therapy is one of the most common treatments for cancer.