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Treatments for Cancer

Patient care in The Ottawa Hospital Cancer Centre is provided by a team of healthcare professionals who, along with the patient, decide which is the best treatment plan for each individual. The treatment team includes doctors, nurses, radiation therapists, medical physicists, pharmacists, social workers and dieticians. For more detailed information about our Cancer Treatment Programs, click here.

There are three main types of treatment for cancer:

Surgery is a treatment for cancer which removes all or part of the cancer. The majority of people diagnosed with cancer will undergo surgery at some time during their care. Surgery is done by a surgeon at either The Ottawa Hospital or at a community hospital. Surgery may be used for several purposes, such as diagnosing and staging cancer, treating cancer or relieving symptoms or side effects when, for example, a tumour is pressing on a nerve or bone.

Surgery may be the only cancer treatment a patient requires, or it may be supplemented with other treatments, such as radiation and chemotherapy.

Chemotherapy, which is sometimes called systemic therapy, means treatment of cancer with drugs. Cancer is a disease where some cells in the body grow out of control. Cancer cells can destroy other cells and spread to other parts of the body (metastases).

Chemotherapy drugs work on cells that are growing quickly. Both cancer cells and some normal cells grow quickly. When the chemotherapy affects normal cells, it can cause temporary side effects. These can be managed.

Chemotherapy is given alone or with other drugs. Chemotherapy may also be used at the same time, before, or after other cancer treatments such as surgery, radiation therapy or hormone therapy.

Chemotherapy can be given in many different ways. Usually, drugs are injected into a vein (intravenous). For some types of cancer, the doctor may order pills taken by mouth. Chemotherapy drugs can also be injected into a muscle (intramuscular), under the skin (subcutaneous), into an artery (intra-arterial) or into the abdomen (intra-peritoneal).

Catheters: A catheter is a soft, thin, flexible tube that is placed in a large vein in the body and remains there as long as it is needed. Patients who need to have many IV treatments often have a catheter, so a needle does not have to be used each time. Drugs can be given and blood samples can be drawn through this catheter. Sometimes, the catheter is attracted to a port - a small round plastic or metal disc placed under the skin. The port can be used for as long as it is needed.

The Canadian Cancer Society's booklet, Chemotherapy: A Guide for People with Cancer, will give you more information about chemotherapy and dealing with side effects. You will find it, and other helpful resources, in the Publications section of the Canadian Cancer Society's Web site: http://www.cancer.ca.

For information about specific types of chemotherapy drugs, click here to see Cancer Care Ontario's Medication Information Sheets.

Cancer Care Ontario's Drug Formulary has information on the chemotherapy regimens used to treat specific cancers.

Radiation therapy is the use of radiation to damage or destroy cancer cells. Radiation in high doses kills cancer cells or keeps them from growing and producing more cancer cells by disrupting the way they grow and divide. Normal cells can be affected by radiation therapy, but most normal cells are able to repair themselves and recover from the effects of radiation. Cancer cells are less able to repair themselves after radiation damage. Radiation therapy may be used alone or with other cancer treatments. Radiation may be used to cure or control cancer or to relieve symptoms and improve quality of life (palliative radiotherapy).

Radiation therapy is currently provided at the TOHCC General and Civic Campuses. More than 300 cancer patients are treated each day at these facilities. Under the TOH Regional Cancer Program, the new Irving Greenberg Cancer Centre at the Queensway Carleton Hospital will soon provide radiation therapy.

There are two main ways of giving radiation therapy:

External beam radiation therapy - Radiation is delivered from a treatment machine outside the body and directed at the cancer site. Treatment is usually given five days a week for several weeks.

Internal radiation therapy (brachytherapy) involves placing radiation sources as close as possible to the tumour site. They are usually left there for 1 to 6 days.

The Radiation Therapy Patient Information booklet explains what happens during radiation treatment and has information about side effects and support services available during treatment.

Other Treatments

Other types of therapy include hormone therapy, where hormones are given as drugs to treat some kinds of cancer (breast and prostate cancer) and immunotherapy, which make use of the body's immune system to fight cancer. New therapies are being studied on an ongoing basis in clinical trials.

Clinical trials are used to test new cancer therapies. A clinical trial is a carefully supervised research study on people, which is done in a hospital or clinic setting before the release of a drug or treatment to the general public. Through clinical trials, researchers learn which treatments are more effective than others.

The Ottawa Hospital Cancer Centre conducts between 75 and 100 clinical trials for many different types and stages of cancer. If you are interested in taking part in a clinical trial, you should discuss this option with your physician.

The Ontario Cancer Research Network's Web site - http://www.ontariocancertrials.ca/ has general information about cancer clinical trials and you can also search a database of all cancer clinical trials available in Ontario.