After cancer has been diagnosed and the extent of the disease determined (staging), appropriate treatment is recommended.

There are three main ways of treating cancer:

• Surgery (the most common) is almost always required for at least a biopsy so that the presence of cancer is confirmed, although not all cancers or patients are suitable for surgery. More extensive surgery is sometimes useful, depending upon the type of tumor being treated.

• Chemotherapy is used in many cases, particularly when the cancer has spread to other organs, or when the risk of microscopic spread is significant. Use of chemotherapy for unseen microscopic disease is called “adjuvant” therapy. Chemotherapy involves the administration of drugs by mouth or by vein (intravenous) for several months at regular intervals, or for years in the case of hormone therapy. Some new drugs fit into a category called “molecular targeted agents” and are proving very promising and less toxic than conventional chemotherapy drugs

• Radiation Therapy uses a type of x-ray or special particle in the treatment of cancer patients. These x-rays can be given in two ways: External-beam radiation uses a powerful machine called a linear accelerator. Brachytherapy, on the other hand, involves an internal radiation treatment delivered via temporary or permanent radioactive implant using solid or liquid sources containing isotopes such as radium, cesium, iridium, iodine, palladium, samarium, yttrium, or strontium.