Treatment for cancer

There are things you can do to help you feel more in control of your health when preparing for treatment. This is called prehabilitation or prehab.

We have specific treatment information for each cancer type. Choose the cancer type you want to find out about the treatment from this A-Z list of treatments by cancer type. 

There are many cancer drugs, cancer drug combinations and they have individual side effects.

Chemotherapy is a standard treatment for some types of cancer. It uses anti cancer drugs to destroy cancer cells. 

There are many different types of cancer drugs. Some treat cancer, and others help to relieve symptoms such as sickness and pain. The type of drugs you need for your cancer depends on what type of cancer you have.

Surgery is one of the main treatments for many types of cancer. Find out about when and why you might have it and what to expect before and after your operation.

Find out about cancer treatment with radiotherapy, including external radiotherapy, internal radiotherapy, side effects, radiotherapy for symptoms and follow up after treatment.

Hormone therapy blocks or lowers the amount of hormones in the body to stop or slow down the growth of cancer.

Stem cell or bone marrow transplants are treatments for some types of cancer including leukaemia, lymphoma and myeloma. You have them with high dose chemotherapy and sometimes radiotherapy.

Targeted cancer drugs work by ‘targeting’ those differences that help a cancer cell to survive and grow. Find out more about what they are and the different types.

Immunotherapy uses our immune system to fight cancer. It's a standard treatment for some types of cancer and is in clinical trials for other types of cancer. Find out more about it.

Radioisotope therapy uses radioactive medicines to treat some types of cancer. It is also known as radionuclide therapy. You have the radioisotope as a drink, capsule or injection.

Personalised medicine involves using information about a person’s cancer to help diagnose, treat and find out about how well treatment is working.

Bisphosphonates are drugs that can help prevent or treat bone loss and reduce the risk of fractures. There are several different types of bisphosphonates, and they each work slightly differently. 

You might not need treatment straight away, or never need it. Doctors monitor you with regular check ups and tests. They call this 'watch and wait', 'active monitoring', or 'active surveillance'. 

These are cancer treatments using medical technologies (interventional treatments) including laser treatment, photodynamic therapy and cryotherapy.

The phrases complementary therapy and alternative therapy are often used as if they mean the same thing. They may also be combined into one phrase – complementary and alternative therapies (CAMs). 

In advanced cancer, palliative treatment might help someone to live longer and more comfortably, even if they cannot be cured. The palliative care team can support people with any stage of cancer and help with symptoms or side effects of treatment.

There are several decisions to be made about a cancer treatment before you can have it on the NHS or HSC.