Articles for patients and families facing cancer: how screening and diagnosis work, what staging means, how the main treatment types differ and how to prepare for appointments. General information; treatment decisions belong to your oncology team.
A skin cancer excision procedure removes the visible tumor plus a rim of normal-looking skin, called the margin, usually under local anesthetic in an…
Preparing for a mastectomy usually means giving your surgical and anesthesia team a complete list of prescription medicines, over-the-counter drugs and herbal products, following…
Sperm banking before testicular cancer treatment means freezing one or more semen samples, ideally before surgery, chemotherapy or radiotherapy begins, because these treatments can…
No published guideline sets a fixed waiting period for flying after Mohs surgery. In practice, surgeons often ask patients with a simple closure to…
Immunotherapy is used at several points in a cancer treatment plan, not only late. Depending on the cancer type, its stage and biomarker test…
Head and neck cancer follow up scans and examinations stay on a schedule because most recurrences appear within the first few years after treatment,…
Ablation and surgery are both used to treat liver cancer that has not spread beyond the liver. Ablation destroys a small tumor in place…
Doctors choose between HDR and LDR brachytherapy based on the cancer type and size, how the tumor sits next to healthy organs, the patient's…
Immunotherapy is usually given in cycles because the drugs are cleared from the body over days to weeks and the immune response they trigger…
To support someone going through radiation, take on the repeatable jobs: a shared ride rota for daily weekday appointments, small frequent meals matched to…
Recovery after melanoma surgery usually takes about one to three weeks for a wound closed with stitches, and several weeks longer when a skin…
A head and neck cancer tumor board is a scheduled meeting where surgeons, radiation oncologists, medical oncologists, radiologists, pathologists, and supportive specialists review one…
CyberKnife tracks tumor movement by pairing a small linear accelerator on a robotic arm with two ceiling-mounted X-ray cameras that repeatedly image the patient…
Before HIPEC, ask your care team how complete they expect tumor removal to be, what evidence supports HIPEC for your specific cancer type, which…
Life after Wilms tumor usually means living well with one kidney, returning to school and most sports, and attending long-term follow-up for years. The…
Voice changes after neck cancer treatment, such as hoarseness, breathiness, a lower or weaker pitch and difficulty swallowing, are common after surgery, radiation or…
Ovarian cancer treatment by stage usually combines surgery to remove as much visible cancer as possible with platinum-based chemotherapy. Early-stage disease confined to the…
The main types of mastectomy differ in how much skin and nipple are kept, not in how much breast tissue is removed. A total…
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