Alternatives to chemotherapy

Options can include surgery, radiotherapy, immunotherapy, targeted therapy, hormone therapy, local procedures, or active monitoring. Some replace chemotherapy, while others are combined with it or used in sequence.

There is no single substitute that works for every cancer. Surgery and radiotherapy treat a defined area. Targeted therapy acts on particular changes in cancer cells, immunotherapy helps the immune system recognise or attack cancer, and hormone therapy can slow cancers that depend on hormones.

Active monitoring may be reasonable for selected slow-growing cancers when immediate treatment is unlikely to add benefit. Supportive and palliative care can control symptoms alongside cancer-directed treatment or when such treatment is not wanted or suitable.

Ask your oncology team to name the goal of treatment: cure, reducing recurrence risk, slowing growth, or easing symptoms. Check whether biomarker testing, imaging, or another pathology review could change the available choices.

Discuss what each option involves, its likely benefits, side effects, effect on daily life, and what may happen without treatment. Do not stop or delay prescribed chemotherapy before agreeing on a safe plan with the treating team.

Contact your oncology team promptly if side effects are making you consider missing a dose; nausea, pain, mouth sores, infection risk, or fatigue may be manageable with treatment adjustments and supportive medicines.

Seek urgent medical help for trouble breathing, chest pain, confusion, uncontrolled bleeding, a seizure, or a fever during cancer treatment. Follow the emergency instructions supplied by your care team because some treatments can weaken infection defences.

Which features of my cancer make chemotherapy helpful or unnecessary? Is the proposed treatment intended to cure, control, or relieve symptoms? Could testing reveal a target for another medicine? What side effects should trigger a same-day call?