At most cancer clinics or treatment centers, your cancer care team will explain your treatment plan during one of your regular appointments or a special teaching session. During this visit or session, your doctor and other members of the cancer care team will sit down and talk through the treatment plan with you and your family or caregiver.
What does a Cancer Center do?
Cancer centers carry out laboratory, clinical, and population-based research. Most cancer centers provide care for people with cancer, but some only conduct laboratory research. Comprehensive cancer centers.
How do I find a cancer treatment center in my area?
A good place to start your search is through accredited cancer treatment centers. The National Cancer Institute's (NCI) Cancer Center Program has more than 60 centers. All centers meet specific standards and fall into 2 categories:
What do you need to know about cancer treatment?
The type of treatment that will be given, such as radiation therapy, chemotherapy, targeted therapy, immunotherapy, hormone therapy, etc. How treatment will be given, such as how radiation will be delivered, or if a treatment drug will be given by mouth, injection, or infusion.
What is the difference between a Cancer Center and Cancer Center?
Cancer centers carry out laboratory, clinical, and population-based research. Most cancer centers provide care for people with cancer, but some only conduct laboratory research. Comprehensive cancer centers. Comprehensive cancer centers do the same activities as cancer centers. In addition, they have community outreach and educational programs.
What is involved in cancer treatment?
If you have cancer, your doctor will recommend one or more ways to treat the disease. The most common treatments are surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation. Other options include targeted therapy, immunotherapy, laser, hormonal therapy, and others.
Why would I be referred to a cancer center?
Takeaway. You will likely be referred to an oncologist if your doctor suspects that you have the disease. Your primary care physician may carry out tests to determine if you might have cancer. If there are any signs of cancer, your doctor may recommend visiting an oncologist as soon as possible.
How long does a cancer treatment session take?
Chemotherapy treatment varies in length and frequency and depends on the individual treatment plan prescribed by your doctor. Some last as long as three or four hours, while others may only take a half-hour.
What does a cancer clinic do?
Cancer centers carry out laboratory, clinical, and population-based research. Most cancer centers provide care for people with cancer, but some only conduct laboratory research. Comprehensive cancer centers. Comprehensive cancer centers do the same activities as cancer centers.
What happens on your first oncology visit?
At the first appointment, the oncologist will talk about treatment options. The doctor will explain which ones are available, how effective they are and what the side effects may be. Then the oncologist will recommend a course and talk about when the treatments should take place.
How long after seeing oncologist will chemo start?
In some situations, your doctor may diagnose a new primary cancer instead of a recurrence. If so, you should wait no more than 2 months (62 days) to start treatment.
Do you need someone to drive you home after chemotherapy?
In most cases, your healthcare provider will ask you to get a ride home after your first session to see how you will tolerate the chemo. If you feel well the first time around, you may be advised that it's okay to drive home for future sessions.
What happens on the first day of chemotherapy?
Your nurse will begin with a saline solution through your IV. As soon as the medications are delivered, your nurse will hang the bags of medication on the IV stand and then start the different IVs. You'll be given pre-medications first, then the chemotherapy.
How long after your first chemo treatment do you get sick?
Acute nausea and vomiting usually happens within minutes to hours after treatment is given, and usually within the first 24 hours. This is more common when treatment is given by IV infusion or when taken by mouth.
What is the difference between a comprehensive cancer center and a cancer center?
What's the Difference Between an NCI Cancer Center and an NCI Comprehensive Cancer Center? An NCI-designated cancer center means that a center has met NCI standards for cancer prevention, clinical services, or research. A Comprehensive Cancer Center meets NCI standards in all three categories.
What are common in oncology patients?
The most common types of treatments that medical oncology offers are surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, targeted therapy, and immunotherapy. An oncologist will make a treatment recommendation depending on the type of cancer a patient has and its stage.
Who is involved in the care of a cancer patient?
For most cancers, treatment is led by one or more primary physicians, including a medical oncologist, surgical oncologist, and radiation oncologist. For some cancers, you may also see an interventional radiologist. Each of these experts brings a clear set of skills and techniques for treating cancer.
How is cancer treatment planned and scheduled?
How Treatment Is Planned and Scheduled. To plan and schedule cancer care and treatments, a lot of information must first be collected. This information often needs to be shared with different specialists , as well as with patients and their caregivers, to help decide what treatment option is best. Once a treatment is decided on, care can be ...
Why do we need a cancer treatment plan?
A cancer treatment plan is kind of like a roadmap because it helps to lay out the expected path of treatment. It is a document that is created by the cancer care team and given to the patient and others that may need to know the planned course of care.
How important is communication in cancer care?
It can be a very involved process. Although treatment and care decisions are mostly made by patients and their cancer care teams, communication with others is very important. Sometimes, though, patients and caregivers might find themselves being the ones having to do most of the communicating.
What to do if you don't get a treatment plan?
If you don't get a written treatment plan, you can ask for a treatment schedule to be written out for you. A treatment schedule includes: The type of treatment that will be given, such as radiation therapy, chemotherapy, targeted therapy, immunotherapy, hormone therapy, etc.
What to do if your treatment center does not give you a treatment plan?
Even if your treatment center does not use treatment plans or does not give you one, you can ask for as much information in writing as possible. This will help you remember what's been told to you, which can be hard to do when you're given a lot of information at once. Either way, having things in writing is helpful.
What is treatment planning?
Treatment planning involves figuring out the exact doses of the treatment that will be given and how long it will last.
What tests are done to determine the stage of cancer?
Your exact cancer diagnosis and stage. Special test results, such as imaging (x-rays), blood tests, tumor marker tests, genetic testing, or biomarker tests done on the tumor. Your planned treatment, its doses, the schedule for getting it, and how long it is expected to be given.
Ask for recommendations
The doctor who found your cancer is the first person you should ask. Try asking: “If you or someone you loved had this cancer, where would you go for treatment?” Often, the doctor will suggest a cancer center even if you don’t ask.
Finding a cancer center or hospital
You might find these websites helpful in locating information about cancer centers near you.*
Choosing a cancer center
Be sure to find out how much experience a center has in treating your type of cancer. It's important to know the cancer center can provide all the services you need. For example, larger hospitals may have more experience with different kinds of cancers and offer more services for people with cancer.
Who is the Chief of Breast Medicine at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center?
Many cancer patients who are in treatment wonder what will happen if their treatment stops working. Here Ellis Levine, MD, Chief of Breast Medicine at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, discusses how different factors can affect the options available.
Does Roswell Park have a phase 1 drug program?
At Roswell Park, we almost never run out of treatment options, because we have a phase I clinical trials program led by Dr. Igor Puzanov that offers investigational drugs for patients who are not eligible for any standard treatments.
Where does prostate cancer go after removal?
Stage 4 prostate cancer. The cancer is found in other parts of the body, even after the prostate has been removed. Metastatic prostate cancer usually travels to the adrenal glands, liver, bones and/or lungs. Learn more about prostate cancer stages.
What is stage 4 cancer?
Stage 4 cancer is sometimes referred to as metastatic cancer, because it often means the cancer has spread from its origin to distant parts of the body. This stage may be diagnosed years after the initial cancer diagnosis and/or after the primary cancer has been treated or removed. When a cancer metastasizes to a different part of the body, ...
What does TNM stand for in cancer?
Doctors may also use the TNM system to help determine the extent of certain cancers in each stage. The TNM system stands for: T (tumor), or the size of the original tumor. N (node), or whether the cancer is present in the lymph nodes.
Where is stage 4 melanoma found?
Metastasized melanoma may be found in the bones, brain, liver or lungs. Most cancers are staged using some form of the TNM system.
Why are liquid cancers different from other cancers?
Liquid cancers, or blood cancers, such as leukemia, lymphoma or multiple myeloma, are staged differently than most other cancers because they may not always form solid tumors. Liquid cancers may be staged by a variety of factors, including: Stage 4 cancer is determined in the five most common cancers this way:
Where does breast cancer spread?
The cancer has spread beyond the breast, underarm and internal mammary lymph nodes to other parts of the body near to or distant from the breast. Metastatic breast cancer most often spreads to the bones, brain, lungs and/or liver.
Where does metastasized colorectal cancer spread?
The cancer has spread to one or more organs that are not near the colon. Metastasized colorectal cancer most commonly spreads to the liver, lungs and/or bones. Learn more about colorectal cancer stages.
How long does it take for a cancer patient to recover from a positive test?
If you test positive for the virus, your treatment will be delayed for at least one week. At that point, your oncologist will need to continue to follow up with you to determine when it’s safe to resume your treatment. Learn more about what caregivers can do to protect themselves and cancer patients.
Can stage IV cancer be treated?
A: No. Treatments for stage IV cancers are largely designed to increase the patients’ longevity and improve their quality of life. The needs of stage IV patients should be evaluated by an expert to decide how those therapies should be continued amid the COVID-19 outbreak.
Is cancer a progressive disease?
The COVID-19 pandemic is concerning, but cancer is a progressive disease, and many cancer therapies should continue without interruption. The question isn’t necessarily whether the treatment can or should be delayed on its own, but whether the risk of COVID-19 outweighs the risk of suspending cancer treatment.
Can you continue chemo at home?
A: For some patients, treatment can continue at home under the supervision of their care team via telemedicine visits. For example, some patients undergoing intravenous chemotherapies may be safely placed on chemotherapies taken in pill form at home. Certain hormone therapies may also be continued at home, with doctors writing prescriptions to be filled at a local pharmacy and following up with regular telehealth visits. Speak with your oncologist about whether he or she offers telehealth visits, and whether oral chemotherapy or other at-home options are available to you.
If You’Re Generally in Good Health…
- Sometimes when treatment stops working, the patient is actually in very good shape and is eligible for another treatment, so we simply discuss the new treatment. It’s the same as any treatment discussion we have with a patient: We talk about the potential benefits and weigh them against the risks, and together with the patient, we decide whether to move on to that option. So…
If You’Re Not Well Enough to Receive Standard Treatment…
- At Roswell Park, we almost never run out of treatment options, because we have a phase I clinical trials program led by Dr. Igor Puzanov that offers investigational drugsfor patients who are not eligible for any standard treatments. However, clinical trials have fairly strict eligibility requirements, and a patient who is not well enough to undergo standard treatment may not be w…
Hard Discussions
- In addition to seeing patients, I also train medical fellows — doctors who have completed their training in internal medicine but are furthering their training in the subspecialty area of cancer medicine (hematology/oncology). I spend quite a bit of time teaching them how to communicate bad news. Of course, the fastest and easiest thing for a doctor to do is go into the room and offe…
Patient, Physician & Family
- So, in a nutshell, when a cancer treatment stops working, many variables will determine what happens next. Discussions about which road to take can be very different depending on the type of cancer involved, the number of treatment options available, how well the patient is doing and how well the physician communicates. It is important that the pat...