Cancer treatment can be done through several ways. The most common ways of treating cancer include surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, immunotherapy and monoclonal antibody therapy. Surgery involves the removal of either just the tumor or the entire organ. Mastectomy is a surgical procedure for breast cancer while prostatectomy is a surgical procedure for prostate cancer. Surgery may not be an effective treatment method in cases where the cancer may have metastasized. Tumors grow locally and then spread to the lymph nodes and eventually to the rest of the body. Palliative treatment is when surgery is used to control spinal cord compression or bowel obstruction.

Chemotherapy is another cancer treatment method. It involves the use of drugs that destroy cancer cells by interfering with the cell division. Chemotherapy targets rapidly dividing cells and is not specific to cancer cells. Chemotherapy therefore has the potential to harm healthy tissue although the cells repair themselves afterward due to their high replacement rates.

Radiation therapy or x-ray therapy involves the use of ionizing radiation to kill cancer cells and shrink tumors. Radiation therapy destroys the target tissue by damaging their genetic makeup and thus deterring them from growing and dividing. Like in chemotherapy, radiation therapy also damages normal cells but they eventually heal and function as usual.

This type of cancer treatment is given in fractions in order to allow healthy tissue to recover between the periods. Immunotherapy involves several therapeutic strategies aimed at inducing the patients’ own immune system to fight the cancer. In hormonal therapy, certain hormones are blocked or provided to stop or inhibit the growth of some cancers.