5 treatment settings, 4 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.
Contrast CT of the chest, acetylcholine receptor antibodies and neurology review; no biopsy of a resectable encapsulated mass; MRI to separate thymoma from cysts and hyperplasia.
A CT scan is a fast 3D X-ray that shows the size and shape of tumours and whether they have spread.
MRI uses a strong magnet and radio waves, with no ionising radiation, to picture soft tissue in finer contrast than CT, so it is the standard scan for brain tumours, prostate, rectal cancer staging, liver lesions and breast screening in high-risk women. It is slow, expensive and blurred by movement.
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.
Complete thymectomy with the tumour, by sternotomy or minimally invasive or robotic approaches for smaller tumours; en bloc resection of involved pericardium, lung or vessels for stage III.
Surgeons operate through small incisions using robotic arms with tremor-free precision and 3D vision.
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.
Postoperative radiotherapy for stage III or incomplete resection; considered for stage II B2 to B3 tumours; observation for completely resected stage I and II type A to B1.
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.
Radiation using protons, which stop inside the tumour instead of passing through, so tissue behind it gets no dose.
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.
Induction chemotherapy with cisplatin, doxorubicin and cyclophosphamide (CAP) or a platinum doublet, then surgery or radiotherapy according to response.
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 red chemotherapy drug from a soil bacterium that is still the backbone of treatment for sarcoma, lymphoma and breast cancer, limited by cumulative heart damage.
Cyclophosphamide is an alkylating chemotherapy that damages DNA in dividing cells. It is part of CHOP for lymphoma, AC for breast cancer and VAC for childhood sarcomas, clears lymphocytes before CAR-T and prevents graft-versus-host disease after transplant; bladder bleeding, infertility and secondary leukaemia are its harms.
Carboplatin is a platinum chemotherapy that crosslinks DNA; it is part of the standard pre-surgery regimen for triple-negative breast cancer.
A microtubule poison discovered in the Pacific yew tree, among the most used chemotherapies in breast, lung, and ovarian 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.
Repeat resection of pleural recurrences where feasible; chemotherapy rechallenge; octreotide with prednisone for octreotide-scan-positive tumours; everolimus, sunitinib or lenvatinib; PD-1 antibodies avoided or given only in trials because of severe immune toxicity.
Monthly injections of a synthetic hormone that both quiets tumour hormone symptoms and slows tumour growth, the first treatment for most neuroendocrine tumours.
An mTOR-blocking pill that doubled progression-free time with exemestane in 2012 and is now paired with the oral SERD giredestrant.
Sunitinib is an anti-angiogenic pill approved for pancreatic neuroendocrine tumours, kidney cancer and GIST.
An oral anti-angiogenic pill that matched sorafenib in liver cancer with higher response rates, and partners with pembrolizumab in kidney and endometrial cancer.
No headline result recorded yet.
No headline result recorded yet.
Add these to your appointment list, or take the full question set for this cancer.