What is combination cancer therapy?
Combination cancer therapy is when doctors treat your cancer with more than one type of treatment. The combination may be a mix of surgery, radiation therapy (uses high energy to shrink cancer tumors and destroy cancer cells), and chemotherapy (medicines to destroy cancer cells).
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Doctors may give you several types of chemotherapy medicine at once (combination chemotherapy)—each medicine works differently to destroy your cancer cells, so they destroy more cancer cells together
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Doctors may also treat your cancer with several types of treatment—for example, both chemotherapy and surgery
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Doctors decide whether to use single or combination therapy depending on your stage and type of cancer
Why do doctors use combination cancer therapy?
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Some cancers can’t be treated with just surgery or radiation therapy
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Surgery or radiation therapy can treat a tumor in one part of your body, while chemotherapy treats cancer cells that have spread to other parts of your body
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Radiation therapy or chemotherapy can shrink your tumor before surgery, so less of it has to be cut out
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After surgery, radiation therapy and chemotherapy can help destroy cancer cells that a surgeon couldn't remove
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Combination chemotherapy can help lengthen your life and lessen your symptoms
