7 Cancer Treatments That Are Improving Patient Outcomes
Posted October 24, 2022 by Teresa Goebel, D.O.
Reviewed March 2025
Nearly 40 percent of individuals in this country will be diagnosed with cancer at some point in their lives, according to the National Cancer Institute. Breast, lung, prostate, colon and skin cancers are among the most common cancers diagnoses.
Fortunately, there are many cancer treatment options available today to cure a cancer, slow the progression or even reduce side effects from cancer — with several more being studied. Cancer treatments include local treatments, such as surgery or radiation, which are used to treat a specific tumor or area of the body. Other treatments using drugs, such as chemotherapy or immunotherapy, are often referred to as systemic treatments because they can affect the entire body.
If you’ve been diagnosed with cancer, your doctor will recommend one or more ways to treat the disease, depending on the type and stage of the cancer you have. Together you and your doctor can weigh the risks and benefits of each cancer treatment to determine which is right for you.
Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy (sometimes referred to as chemo) is one of the most common cancer treatments used to treat many types of cancer. Chemotherapy uses a drug or combination of drugs to kill cancer cells. Depending on the type of cancer you have, where it’s located and whether it has spread, your medical oncologist will determine the dose, how the drugs will be administered, and how often and how long you’ll receive chemo treatment.
Chemo is a systemic treatment because the drugs, given either by mouth or intravenously, travel throughout the body to treat your cancer, stop the spread of cancer or shrink tumors. It may also be prescribed to help you feel better, improve your quality of life and live longer in cases where curing the cancer is not part of the prognosis.
Often times, chemotherapy is used with additional treatments, such as surgery or radiation therapy.
Targeted therapy
Targeted therapy is a type of chemotherapy that uses drugs designed to precisely identify and attack certain cancer cells without damaging healthy cells. The drugs work by zeroing in on some of the proteins that make cancer cells different from normal cells. The drugs, which can be given orally or intravenously, may block messages that make cancer cells grow and stop them from spreading, or sometimes kills cancer cells directly.
Only a few type of cancers are treated using targeted therapy and most patients also need other types of cancer treatments.
Radiation therapy
Most people with cancer receive radiation therapy. This cancer treatment uses high doses of radiation to shrink tumors or completely destroy a tumor, treat uncomfortable symptoms or treat recurring cancer.
Unlike chemotherapy that exposes the entire body, radiation is a localized treatment. It’s usually aimed at one area of the body to damage cancer cells with as little harm as possible to nearby healthy cells.
Radiation is typically used with other cancer treatments. It can be used before surgery to shrink a tumor or after surgery to help keep the cancer from coming back.
Surgery
Surgery is another common treatment for many types of cancer. Surgery is typically used when cancer is found in one part of the body and it’s likely the surgeon can remove all of the cancer during the procedure.
In some cases, a surgeon may not be able to remove the tumor, or may be able to only take a portion of it because it’s located too close to a vital organ. In this case, your doctors may use other treatments, such as chemotherapy or radiation, to treat the cancer.
Surgery also can be used to diagnose cancer with a biopsy(ies) and determine if it has spread and if so, how far it has spread. In some cases, surgery might be used to relieve side effects.
Immunotherapy
In the last few decades, immunotherapy, which relies on a patient’s own immune system to fight cancer, has become an important way to treat many types of cancer. Immunotherapy uses drugs to help boost a person’s immune system so it works harder to find and attack cancer cells to stop or slow cancer growth.
Because cancer cells begin in normal cells, the immune system doesn’t always recognize them as foreign. Immunotherapy uses drugs that help the immune system recognize and attack cancer cells. It also can involve using a patient’s own cells from their blood and mixing them with a substance in a lab to teach the body’s cells how to attack cancer cells. These cells are then injected back into the patient to treat the cancer.
Typically, immunotherapy works best when used with other cancer treatments.
Stem cell or bone marrow transplant
In most cases, stem cell transplants, also known as bone marrow transplants, don’t fight the cancer cells directly. Instead, the treatment helps the body recover and form its own stem cells after being destroyed by cancer or treatment.
Stem cells are immature blood cells that make red blood cells (to carry oxygen), white blood cells (to fight infection), as well as platelets (to repair damaged blood vessels). To do their jobs, a person needs enough of each in their bloodstream. Stem cells can come from bone marrow, bloodstream or umbilical cord blood from newborns.
In a stem cell transplant, a patient receives healthy stem cells through a needle. Once in the bloodstream, the transplanted stem cells travel to bone marrow to replace damaged cells with healthy stem cells that will mature into blood cells that function normally and reproduce cells free from cancer.
Most cancers that affect bone marrow functions include leukemia, multiple myeloma and lymphomas because all of these cancers start in blood cells.
Hormone therapy
Hormone therapy is mostly used to treat breast, prostate and ovarian cancers that depend on sex hormones to grow. Hormone therapy can block certain hormones to slow or stop the growth of these cancers.
Hormone therapy uses drugs, given orally or by injection, to stop the body from producing the hormone, block the hormone from attaching to cancer cells or alter the hormone so it doesn’t work as it should. Hormone therapy may also include surgery to remove organs that produce the hormone, such as the ovaries or testes.
Recent advances in cancer treatment are improving patient outcomes, in addition to expanded screening options to help catch cancer at earliest stages. Learn more about the comprehensive cancer care options at Summa Health. Talk to your doctor to determine which treatment is right for your situation.
About the Author
Vitality eNews Sign Up
Receive the Summa Health eNewsletter for the latest health tips, advice and updates.
Related Blogs
It’s never too late to make cancer prevention your top priority.
Cancer affects 1 in 3 people in this country, according to the American Cancer Society. If you haven’t been touched by it, you likely know someone who has — a friend, family member, coworker or neighbor.
With odds like that, why not take the necessary steps to help prevent it in the first place?
While you can’t avoid all causes of cancer, you can significantly reduce your risks — while at the…
Blood plays a vital role in how our bodies function. As blood circulates the body, it’s responsible for supplying all our organs with oxygen, nutrients and antibodies to fight infection and control bleeding. Blood is essential to life.
Unfortunately, about every 3 minutes, one person in the United States is diagnosed with blood cancer, according to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Blood cancers account for nearly 10 percent of new cancer cases in this country every…
In many cases today, cancer has become a chronic disease, rather than a terminal disease, with people living longer and healthier lives after a diagnosis of cancer than ever before. Even more significant, more people are surviving cancer thanks to early detection and more advanced treatment options. The American Cancer Society estimates there are more than 18 million cancer survivors in the United States—and growing each year. At Summa Health, we define cancer…
Not only does your body need energy to function at its best and fight off the disease, but also to repair and recover.
Eating nutritious foods is a key component to a healthy lifestyle. In fact, some recent studies have linked plant-based foods and lower cancer rates.
The primary goal of a nutrition plan…
The ovaries may be small, but they are mightily important in a female’s reproductive cycle. With each about the size and shape of an almond, the ovaries produce eggs, as well as the female hormones estrogen and progesterone.
You don’t often hear about a loved one developing ovarian cancer because it’s not very common. However, it does deserve your attention, especially if you’re at high risk. Ovarian cancer ranks fifth in cancer deaths among females,…
Early detection of breast cancer matters. The 5-year survival rate for breast cancer is lower in advanced stages of the disease. Many times women wait until they experience symptoms, like a lump, before they get a mammogram or clinical breast exam. By then, the cancer may have spread and be more difficult to treat and cure.
Breast cancer is one of the most common cancers in females. That’s why for decades, October and the color pink have gone hand in hand to promote…
Reviewed January 2025
Nearly 40 percent of individuals in this country will be diagnosed with cancer at some point in their lives, according to the National Cancer Institute.
However, the good news is that many cancers can be found early before they have a chance to grow and spread. And, studies prove catching cancer early when it’s easier to treat improves patient outcomes.
For example, breast cancer that is found in the early stages has a 99 percent survival rate, but…
While head and neck cancers are not the most common malignancies diagnosed in the US, it affects a significant number of patients. According to the National Cancer Institute, this group of cancers occur in about 4 percent of all cancers in the country.
While more common cancers such as breast, colon and lung cancer are more known, oral, head and neck cancers can and do occur, especially in men. Additionally, the population affected by this disease has changed over the…
Reviewed March 2025
As the third leading cause of cancer-related death in both men and women in the U.S., screening for colorectal cancer should be an important part of your routine healthcare.
Colon and rectal cancers, more commonly known as colorectal cancer, can be found early with testing before it has a chance to grow and spread. And studies prove catching it early when the cancer is easier to treat improves patient outcomes.
Just look at the survival rate for colorectal…
You’re not a smoker, so you can’t be at risk for lung cancer, right? Not so fast.
While smokers, especially cigarette smokers, make up the leading cause of lung cancer deaths, nonsmokers do get diagnosed with this deadly disease.
Lung cancer is the second most common diagnosed cancer in both men and women, and the leading cause of cancer deaths, making up almost 25 percent in the United States, according to the American Cancer Society (ACS).
However, despite how…
One out of every eight women will develop breast cancer in their lifetime; this is considered average risk for U.S. women. High risk for breast cancer is defined as a greater than or equal to 20% lifetime risk, or in other words, a one in five chance of developing breast cancer over a lifetime. We all know someone — a coworker, family member such as a mother, sister, daughter or friend — that has been diagnosed with this disease.
That’s why for…
Dr. John Fondran discusses the importance of colorectal health, and why getting screened is important.
For decades, October and the color pink have gone hand in hand to promote Breast Cancer Awareness. The universal pink ribbon represents prevention, early detection and treatment — supporting the mission to spread awareness and education.
According to breastcancer.org, breast cancer affects one in eight women, and chances are you know someone — a co-worker, a family member, a friend — who has been diagnosed. Other than skin cancer, it is the most commonly…
It can be difficult to face the idea of getting screened for prostate cancer, and many people opt out due to fear, inconvenience, or lack of knowledge of the symptoms. There is clear scientific evidence that screening with a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test can help identify cancer early on which makes treatment more effective and reduces the number of deaths associated with prostate cancer.
We’ve compiled some valuable information below so that you can…
Did you know one out of every 10 men in the US will develop prostate cancer? This form is the most common cancer in men. Bladder cancer, another common cancer in the US, affects as many as 68,000 individuals every year. It’s the fourth leading cancer for men and the eleventh for women. For men ages 15 to 44, testicular cancer is the leading type of cancer. What do all of these have in common? They are cancers that form in or affect parts of the urinary tract.
Updated on May 6, 2024
Did you know skin cancer is the most common cancer in the United States? If caught early, skin cancer is one of the easier cancers to treat. However, every hour of every day one American dies from melanoma, its deadliest form.
There are various treatments for melanoma, depending on the stage at which a patient is diagnosed, including: surgery to remove the affected area, chemotherapy, radiation therapy or a relatively new treatment called immunotherapy.…
March is Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month. Colorectal cancer remains the #3 cancer killer in the U.S., yet it is one of the most preventable types of cancer. Statistically, 1 in 22 men and 1 in 24 women will develop colorectal cancer in their lifetime. According to the American Cancer Society, in 2018 more than 140,000 people will be diagnosed with colorectal cancer and 50,000 of them are expected to die of this disease. Colorectal cancer screening could save more than half…