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7 treatment settings, 5 with more than one named option. Each section lays out the options the standard of care names, what each is for, the trials behind them with their recorded results, the side effects and cautions on record, and questions to ask. Built from the cancer page's standard-of-care rows; nothing here is advice for your case.
Panendoscopy with biopsy, CT of the neck and chest, PET-CT for stage III to IV, and assessment of swallowing and nutrition before treatment.
PET and CT in one machine, so hot spots on the PET are pinned to exact locations on the CT.
No trial record is attached to this row yet. The trials tab lists what is recruiting and the landmark trials for this cancer.
Add these to your appointment list, or take the full question set for this cancer.
Radiotherapy alone, or transoral or open partial pharyngectomy in selected small tumours, with treatment of both sides of the neck.
IMRT and IGRT shape the radiation beam to the tumour's outline from multiple angles and check the patient's position with a scan before every session, so surrounding organs receive less dose. Fewer, larger doses are now standard in breast and prostate cancer, but a low-dose bath still spreads across normal tissue.
Transoral robotic surgery removes early (T1 to T2) throat tumours through the mouth with a robot and 3D endoscope, avoiding splitting the jaw or a tracheostomy. In HPV-positive oropharyngeal cancer the pathology then guides how much radiation to add, but randomised trials found it no better than radiation for swallowing, and surgeon volume matters.
No trial record is attached to this row yet. The trials tab lists what is recruiting and the landmark trials for this cancer.
Add these to your appointment list, or take the full question set for this cancer.
Concurrent cisplatin chemoradiation to 70 Gy; induction cisplatin-fluorouracil (EORTC 24891) or docetaxel-cisplatin-fluorouracil followed by radiotherapy in some centres.
Cisplatin is the original platinum chemotherapy, discovered by accident in 1965; it cures testicular cancer and makes radiation work better in cervical and head and neck cancer.
The 1957 chemotherapy that remains the backbone of treatment for bowel, stomach, pancreatic, anal, head and neck and breast cancers, and as a cream for skin precancers.
The first chemotherapy to extend life in prostate cancer (2004), now part of triplet therapy at first metastatic diagnosis.
IMRT and IGRT shape the radiation beam to the tumour's outline from multiple angles and check the patient's position with a scan before every session, so surrounding organs receive less dose. Fewer, larger doses are now standard in breast and prostate cancer, but a low-dose bath still spreads across normal tissue.
Larynx preservation at 2 years 88% (concurrent) vs 75% (induction) vs 70% (radiotherapy alone).
Add these to your appointment list, or take the full question set for this cancer.
Cetuximab with radiotherapy (Bonner), or carboplatin-based chemoradiation.
Cetuximab is a chimeric antibody that blocks the EGFR growth receptor. It is used with FOLFIRI or FOLFOX in RAS wild-type, left-sided bowel cancer, with encorafenib in BRAF V600E disease, with KRAS G12C inhibitors, and with radiation or chemotherapy in head and neck cancer; RAS-mutant tumours gain nothing and may be harmed, so RAS testing comes first.
Carboplatin is a platinum chemotherapy that crosslinks DNA; it is part of the standard pre-surgery regimen for triple-negative breast cancer.
Averages across everyone diagnosed, often years ago. A median is the middle of a group: half the people counted lived longer than the figure shown, and some lived far longer. Your stage, subtype, age, fitness and the treatment you receive matter more than the average, and the numbers are improving quickly.
Add these to your appointment list, or take the full question set for this cancer.
Total laryngopharyngectomy with neck dissection and free-flap or gastric pull-up reconstruction, then postoperative radiotherapy or cisplatin chemoradiation by pathology.
IMRT and IGRT shape the radiation beam to the tumour's outline from multiple angles and check the patient's position with a scan before every session, so surrounding organs receive less dose. Fewer, larger doses are now standard in breast and prostate cancer, but a low-dose bath still spreads across normal tissue.
Cisplatin is the original platinum chemotherapy, discovered by accident in 1965; it cures testicular cancer and makes radiation work better in cervical and head and neck cancer.
No trial record is attached to this row yet. The trials tab lists what is recruiting and the landmark trials for this cancer.
Add these to your appointment list, or take the full question set for this cancer.
Pembrolizumab alone or with platinum-fluorouracil (KEYNOTE-048).
Pembrolizumab is a PD-1 blocking antibody approved in more than 40 settings, from melanoma and lung cancer to the first tumour-agnostic approval for mismatch-repair-deficient tumours in 2017, and before and after surgery in triple-negative breast cancer. A subcutaneous form arrived in 2025, and it is the backbone partner for ADCs and personalised neoantigen vaccines.
OS 14.9 vs 10.7 months (CPS ≥20, monotherapy); 13.0 vs 10.7 (all, with chemotherapy).
| Side effect | Any grade | Grade 3+ |
|---|---|---|
| Hypothyroidism (immune-mediated) · Pooled monotherapy data, >2,800 patients | 8% | - |
| Pneumonitis (immune-mediated) · Pooled monotherapy data, >2,800 patients | 3.4% | - |
| Colitis (immune-mediated) · Pooled monotherapy data, >2,800 patients | 1.7% | - |
| Hepatitis (immune-mediated) · Pooled monotherapy data, >2,800 patients | 0.7% | - |
Rates from the label or pivotal trial as recorded on the product page; each grade 3+ figure links to its source.
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Smoking cessation and alcohol reduction; no screening programme exists.
Stopping smoking after a cancer diagnosis improves survival, reduces treatment complications and second cancers, and is the single most effective supportive intervention that oncology services still routinely fail to deliver.
Alcohol causes at least seven cancers and there is no safe threshold. Price, availability and cancer warning labels are the tools that work; most people still do not know alcohol causes cancer.
No trial record is attached to this row yet. The trials tab lists what is recruiting and the landmark trials for this cancer.
Add these to your appointment list, or take the full question set for this cancer.