Cancer is treated with surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, hormone therapy or biological therapy. Patients are best treated by a team of specialists, which may include a medical oncologist (specialist in cancer drug treatment), cancer surgeon, radiation oncologist (specialist in radiotherapy), and others. The doctors may decide to use one or a combination of methods to treat the cancer. The choice of treatment depends on the type, location, stage of cancer, the patient's age and general health, and other factors.

Some patients take part in a clinical trial (research study) using new treatment methods designed to improve cancer treatment.

Surgery
Surgery is the local treatment to remove the cancer. Tissue around the cancer and nearby lymph nodes may also have to be removed during the operation. There may be pain after surgery during the first few days. This pain can be controlled by medication. It is also common for patients to feel tired or weak for a while. The length of time it takes to recover varies from patient to patient.

Radiation Therapy
In radiotherapy, high-energy rays are used to kill cancer cells and stop them from growing and dividing. Like surgery, radiotherapy is a local treatment; it can affect cancer cells only in the treated area. Radiotherapy is usually given on an outpatient basis, 5 days a week, for several weeks. Patients are not radioactive during or after treatment. The treatment itself causes no pain.

Many of the side effects of radiation therapy are related to the area that is being treated. The most common side effects are tiredness, skin reactions such as redness, and loss of appetite. Less commonly radiation therapy may also cause a temporary lowering of the white blood cell count, cells that help protect the body against infection. This may happen in the cases where chemotherapy is given together with radiation. The side effects are usually temporary developing gradually over the weeks of the treatment, and improving gradually after treatment is completed.

Chemotherapy
Treatment with medicines to kill cancer cells is called chemotherapy. Most of these medications are injected into a vein. The medicines flow through the bloodstream to nearly every part of the body, damaging cells that are rapidly dividing and growing. Normal cells that are rapidly dividing and growing, such as white blood cells, will also be affected by chemotherapy. Because cancer cells are often more immature and fragile than normal cells, chemotherapy affects cancer cells more than they do normal healthy ones.

Chemotherapy is generally given in cycles: a treatment period is normally followed by a rest period, then another treatment period, and so on. Most chemotherapy can be given on an outpatient basis.

The specific medicine or combination recommended, as well as the frequency of the treatment, depend on a number of things - kind of cancer, its location, a person's height and weight, and how quickly the healthy normal cells recover from the treatment. Anticancer medication affects all cells that grow rapidly: cancer cells, white and red blood cells, hair, and cells which line the digestive tract such as the mouth and intestines. As a result, patients may experience side effects, such as nausea and vomiting, loss of appetite, mouth sores or tiredness. Medication will usually be prescribed to minimise these side effects. These side effects go away after treatment stops.

Hormone Therapy
Some types of cancer, for example, breast and prostate cancer, may depend on hormones to grow. For this reason, doctors may recommend therapy that prevents cancer cells from getting or using the hormones they need. Sometimes, the patient has surgery to remove organs, such as the ovaries or testes, that make the hormones; in other cases, the doctor uses drugs to stop hormone production or change the way the hormones work. Like chemotherapy, hormone therapy affects cancer cells anywhere in the body.

Hormone therapy may cause nausea, swelling of the limbs, or weight gain. In women, there may be hot flushes, irregular periods or vaginal dryness. In men, there may be impotence, or loss of sexual desire.

Biological Therapy
Biological therapy, also called immunotherapy, is a form of treatment that uses the body's own immune system to fight infection and disease or to protect the body from some of the side effects of treatment. Monoclonal antibodies, interferon, interleukin-2, and white blood cell-stimulating factors such as GM-CSF and G-CSF, are forms of biological therapy.

These treatments often cause temporary flu-like symptoms such as fever and chills, muscle aches and weakness, loss of appetite and diarrhoea.