New Cancer Treatments Approaches

Chemotherapy and radiotherapy work because of their toxic effect on cancer cells. They have their strongest effects on cells that are dividing (growing) rapidly, as cancer cells do. However, because they are toxic to normal cells too, these therapies cause unwanted side effects, which can sometimes be severe.

New cancer treatments are needed that have fewer side effects and are more effective. New experimental therapies are being investigated and researched all the time, in order to:

• Cure more types of cancer
• Treat some types of cancer more effectively
• Offer new treatments with fewer side effects

Many of the potential new cancer treatments being investigated are based on substances made by our own bodies to fight disease. Many are “targeted therapies", directed at particular features of cancer cells.

For more information on treatment options for cancer, please make an appointment with a Cancer Care Specialist or call 630-208-3993. 

Hormone Therapy

This method uses hormones, or drugs that block them, to treat some types of cancer that need hormones to develop — such as breast and prostate cancer.

Hormones are natural substances made by glands and carried around the body in the blood stream. They control the growth and activity of certain cells and organs. By stopping the production of hormones or preventing them from reaching the cancer cells, hormone therapy can slow down or stop cancer growth.

For more information on treatment options for cancer, please make an appointment with a Cancer Care Specialist or call 630-208-3993. 

Immunotherapy

Another potential new cancer treatment approach, called immunotherapy, uses the body’s own natural defense systems to fight the tumor. This approach is based on the knowledge that our own immune system recognizes and fights cancer cells, although sometimes without success. You can find out more about this potential new cancer treatment in the Cancer Immunotherapy section of the site.

What is cancer immunotherapy?

Our natural defense against disease is called the “immune system.” It works silently in our bodies, around the clock, to protect us and keep us healthy.

The immune system works by detecting and destroying a wide range of germs and viruses that try to invade our bodies every day. It recognizes these germs because they do not come from the body - they are “foreign". It then kills them and stops the disease. Our natural immune system can also detect cancer, because cancer cells are not exactly like normal cells.

Cancer immunotherapy is a potential new form of treatment that improves the way our immune system fights cancer.

For more information on treatment options for cancer, please make an appointment with a Cancer Care Specialist or call 630-208-3993. 

Targeted Cancer Therapy

Recently, medical research has made great progress in understanding how cancer starts and develops. Key features for cancer growth and spread have also been identified. Some new therapies get in the way of these features. They are called “targeted therapies", and have the potential to block the growth and spread of cancer cells.

Monoclonal antibodies are an example of a targeted cancer therapy. These are antibodies made in the laboratory that recognize and attach themselves to specific proteins on cancer cells. Once attached they may prevent key signals from reaching the cell. They can even be linked with drugs, to guide the drug to the cancer.

Many of the new approached to cancer treatment currently being developed are targeted therapies. When the feature it targets is well defined, immunotherapy may also be considered a targeted therapy. You can find out more about in the immunotherapy section of this site.

For more information on treatment options for cancer, please make an appointment with a Cancer Care Specialist or call 630-208-3993. 

Current cancer treatments

Cancer is almost always treated with surgery, radiotherapy or chemotherapy. Often doctors will use more than one of these treatments to try and get the best results. This page gives an overview of current cancer treatments. Increasingly, patients may also receive a new cancer treatment alongside traditional therapy.

For more information on treatment options for cancer, please make an appointment with a Cancer Care Specialist or call 630-208-3993. 

Surgery

A surgical operation to remove a solid tumor is the most common form of cancer treatment. It offers the best chance of cure for many cancers that have not spread. When the cancer has grown or spread outside the organ where it originated, surgery is often used in combination with radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy.

Smaller scale surgery is often used in cancer diagnosis to remove a small tissue sample for examination (called a “biopsy"). This is used to diagnose or grade the cancer. A biopsy may also be used in the staging process to find out how far a cancer has spread.

For more information on treatment options for cancer, please make an appointment with a Cancer Care Specialist or call 630-208-3993. 

Radiotherapy

Radiotherapy aims to get rid of cancer by killing cancer cells in and around a specific tumor. It works by directing a stream of high-energy particles (radiation) onto the affected tissue, and can be used to treat solid and non-solid tumors.

Radiation has side effects because it kills normal cells as well as cancer cells. For this reason, doctors have to carefully balance the dose and timing of the treatment to allow normal tissues to recover.

Radiation can also be used to:

• Reduce the size of a tumor before surgery
• Prevent the cancer from coming back after an operation
• Destroy any cancer cells that may have escaped surgery

For more information on treatment options for cancer, please make an appointment with a Cancer Care Specialist or call 630-208-3993. 

Chemotherapy

This form of treatment uses drugs that can destroy cancer cells. There are dozens of different chemotherapy drugs. The choice of which to use depends on the type of cancer, its grade and its stage. Doctors may also take into account the patient’s age and overall health. Two or more chemotherapy drugs are often used together; this is called combination chemotherapy.

Like radiation, chemotherapy may be used before surgery. It is often used after surgery to eliminate any surviving cancer cells around the tumor site. It can also help destroy cancer cells that have spread to other parts of the body.

Chemotherapy causes unwanted side effects — such as hair loss, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea — because it also kills normal healthy cells. But these problems usually get better as soon as treatment is interrupted or finished. Medicines like anti-sickness drugs can often help to make side effects less severe.

For more information on treatment options for cancer, please make an appointment with a Cancer Care Specialist or call 630-208-3993.