How is vaginal cancer treated?

The team considers where the cancer is in the vagina, how deeply it has grown, whether nearby lymph nodes or organs are involved, and whether it has spread. A biopsy confirms the cell type, while scans and examination help with staging. A small, accessible tumour may be removed with an operation. Radiotherapy can target the tumour from outside the body or from a source placed close to it. This internal treatment is called brachytherapy. Some people need combined approaches, with the order planned around healing and the aim of treatment.

Bring a list of medicines, previous operations and any concerns about sexual health, fertility, bowel or bladder function. Ask how treatment may affect vaginal comfort, bleeding, skin, energy and intimacy. Keep follow-up appointments so the team can examine healing and manage side effects. Report new discharge, pain, bleeding or difficulty passing urine rather than waiting for the next visit. Support with emotional wellbeing, pelvic health and practical care can be included in the plan.

Contact your treatment team promptly for heavy or worsening bleeding, fever, foul-smelling discharge, severe pain, inability to pass urine, or new shortness of breath. During radiotherapy, increasing skin soreness, diarrhoea or urinary burning may need specific treatment. New bleeding after sex or bleeding after menopause should be assessed, whether or not cancer has been diagnosed.

Ask what the biopsy and scans show, why a treatment was recommended, whether surgery or radiotherapy will come first, how nearby organs may be protected, and which symptoms require an urgent call.