Treatment
TREATMENT
Chemotherapy involves using drugs to kill cancer cells and can be used alone or in combination with other treatments. Sometimes, chemotherapy is given to a patient through a needle into a vein; other treatments are given in pill form. The medication can kill cancer cells anywhere in the body. Chemotherapy can be given after surgery to kill any remaining cells or used as a precaution if no cancerous cells can be seen.
Half of all cancer patients are treated with radiation therapy. Depending on the type and extent of cancer, radiation therapy can be used alone or in combination with other treatments, such as surgery or chemotherapy. Physicians at PHC sometimes use radiation therapy to shrink tumors before surgery or to make patients more comfortable.
For some patients, surgery is the first course of treatment and is used to remove cancerous tumors and tissues. Depending on the health of the patient and the location and size of the tumor, surgery may be combined with other types of therapy, including chemotherapy and radiation therapy.
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