General description: Surgery pertains to the surgical removal of cancerous tissue and sometimes the healthy tissue around it in a surgical operation.

When the treatment is commonly used: often as a treatment to remove all or some cancerous tissue after diagnosis. Surgery may also be used for biopsies or to ease cancer symptoms caused by tumors that are creating pain or pressure in the patient. It can confirm and determine if the tumor has metastasized to other parts of the body and generally where it is located.

Reasons why it would be recommended: Surgery may be recommended as a cancer therapy if the solid tumors are concentrated in one area. It would not be effective against cancer that has spread of a non-solid cancer such as leukemia, a type of blood cancer.

Possible side effects:

• infection

• pain in the area of the body that was operated on

• intense chills

• fever

• difficulty, painful, cloudy, or bloody urination

• shortness of breath or difficulty breathing

• bleeding at the surgical site

General description: This type of treatment specifically targets the process of the cell cycle, exposing the patient to chemicals that will inhibit at certain parts of the cycle; alkylating agents, nitrosoureas, antimetabolites.

When the treatment is commonly used: Chemo is usually started when cancerous tissue is recognized and there is a risk it will begin to spread. Chemotherapy can be used after other treatments, such as surgery, to kill any cancer cells that might remain in the body. Doctors call this adjuvant therapy. It can also be used to shrink a tumor so that other treatments, such as radiation and surgery, are possible. Doctors call this neoadjuvant therapy.

Reasons for recommendation: Chemotherapy is often recommeded by medical professionals because of its systematic treatment and effectiveness. Since the treatments circulates throughout the body, it works to target the entire body and its systems and treat cancer anywhere in the body.

Possible side effects: The possible side effects of Chemo would include

• Nausea

• Vomiting

• Diarrhea

• Hair loss

• Loss of appetite

• Fatigue

• Fever

• Mouth sores

• Pain

• Constipation

• Easy bruising

• Bleeding

General description: Radiation therapy uses radiation with the intention of creating small breaks in the DNA of exposed cells, preventing cancer cells from growing and dividing. It can take days to weeks of this treatment for cancer cells to begin to die, and cells will continue to die even once the treatment ends.

When the treatment is commonly used: Radiation therapy typically affects only the part of the body that is being treated (local treatment). It is often used to ease cancer symptoms caused by tumors and in conjunction with other treatments such as surgery and chemotherapy to make sure that all cancer cells are gotten rid of.

Reasons why it would be recommended: Radiation therapy would be recommended to be used alongside surgery and chemotherapy to make sure that all cancerous cells are removed of, shrink the tumor before surgical removal, or prevent the growth of any remaining ones. It may also be decided to be the patient's only treatment for cancer.

Possible side effects:

• hair loss

• skin irritation at treatment site

• fatigue

• if used at the head and neck: dry mouth, dysphagia, sore throat, tooth decay, nausa, and mouth sores

• chest: dysphagia, cough, shortness of breath

• abdomen: nausea, vomiting, diarrhea

• pelvis: diarrhea, bladder irritation, frequent urination, sexual dysfunction

General description: An approach of immunotherapy is that it focuses on teaching the immune system to recognize and destory cancer cells more accurately. As well as attempting to supplement a patient's immune system with cell proteins that boost its power to destory cancer cells.

When the treatment is commonly used: Healthcare providers typically use immunotherapy to treat advanced cancer, cancer that hasn't respond to other treatments and cancer that's come back.

Reasons Recommendation:Initially, ICIs like pembrolizumab were used only to treat people with very advanced cancers that were no longer responding to standard treatments. Several are now used as initial treatments for advanced cancers, including historically hard-to-treat cancers like lung and kidney. 

Possible side effects:

• Fatigue.

• Itchy rash.

• Diarrhea.

• Nausea and vomiting.

• Decreased thyroid hormone levels.

General description: Targeted therapy is usually a type of chemotherapy except more specific than standard chemotherapy. It is more specific in regards to how it targets parts of the cell and the signals that are needed to keep the cancer developing and growing, such as enzymes that signal for cancerous cells to grow. It can even signal apoptosis in cancer cells.

When the treatment is commonly used: Targeted therapy is commonly used for patients that have specific cancers that produce tumors that have the specific mutation that would code for the target.

Reasons why it would be recommended: Targeted therapy is used for patients whose cancer has tumors that have the specific gene mutation that codes for the target. There would be no point using this therapy for cancer that was not started from specific gene mutations.

Possible side effects:

• high blood pressure

• fatigue

• mouth sores

• loss of hair color

• skin issues such as dry skin or rashes

• blood clotting problems

• changes in nails

General description:There are two types of hormone therapy for cancer treatment, those that block the body's ability to produce the hormones associated with the cancer and those that interfere with how these hormones behave in the body.

When the treatment is commonly used:Hormone therapy is used to slow the growth of cancer, lessen the chance that cancer will return, or reduce or prevent symptoms in patients with prostate cancer who are unable to have surgery or radiation therapy.

Reason recommendation: Hundreds of clinical studies have provided evidence that systemic HT (estrogen with or without progestogen) effectively helps conditions such as hot flashes, vaginal dryness, night sweats, and bone loss.

Possible side effects:

• Breast tenderness or pain.

• Decreased sex drive.

• Nausea or vomiting.

• Erectile dysfunction.

• Fatigue.

General description: Patients may have had their healthy blood-forming stem cells damaged or destroyed du to cancer treatments such as chemotherapy and radiation therapy. Stem cell transplant works by giving affected patients healthy versions of these cells that were harvested from the patient before treatment or from a matching donor that can then travel to the bone marrow and create new blood cells.

When the treatment is commonly used: Stem cell transplant is commonly used in patients whose bone marrow has been damaged or is no longer functional in regards to producing erythrocytes.

Why it would be recommended: It could be recommended for patients that have a certain type of leukemia or multiple myelomia. The transplanted healthy blood-forming stem cells work to fight against the cancer cells that may remain after high-dose treatments.

Possible side effects:

• nausea

• vomiting

• mouth sores

• fatigue

• hair loss

• anemia

• diarrhea

• difficulty blood clotting

• loss of appetite

General description:When applied to cancer treatment, precision medicine allows doctors to select treatments that are most likely to help patients, based on a genetic understanding of the patient and their cancer. Patients will receive drugs that their tumors are most likely to respond to, and that their bodies are able to metabolize effectively.

When the treatment is commonly used: Precision medicine is commonly used to identify those who might be at high risk of developing cancer and help them lower their risk.

Reason recommendation: Precision medicine, also called personalized medicine, helps your doctor find your unique disease risks and treatments that will work best for you.

Possible side effects: The large amount of data required to be collected and analysed is not only an economic burden but also labour and technical knowhow intensive. The anonymisation of data and its security is a big issue