Treatments

There is no single treatment for cancer. After careful assessment of your individual case, doctors use different treatments, or a combination of them, to achieve the best outcome. Find out more about the main treatment types available.

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Surgery is one of the most common treatments for cancer, search for a specific cancer to find out what types of surgery are used to treat different types of cancer.

Radiotherapy uses high-energy rays to target and destroy cancer cells in the affected area. Find out more about radiotherapy.

Several different types of treatment are available or in development. Find out more about:
Chemotherapy
Biological and drug therapies

Hormones are substances that are found naturally in body. Sometimes when cancer develops certain hormones stimulate the cancer cells to grow. Hormone therapies stop the hormone being released or prevent it acting on the cancer cells.

Complementary treatments are those given alongside conventional cancer treatments. They are regarded as a supplement to, but not a substitute for, conventional medical care. Many people who choose complementary treatments often do so to help support them through their illness.

Alternative therapies are regarded as substitutes for conventional therapies but have little or no scientific basis. Such alternative therapies include diet and megavitamin therapy and immuno-augmentative (immune boosting) therapy.

A clinical trial is a research study that looks for new ways of preventing, screening and treating cancer. Find out more about clinical trials and cancer research.

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Get help with transport

You may be eligible for funding for some of the transport costs when you are attending the hospital for tests or treatments for cancer, for more information please see our section on the Travel2Care programme.