Understanding Your Options and Making Treatment Decisions

When someone finds out they have cancer, or that cancer has come back, it’s very easy to feel overwhelmed. For many people, this news might come while still recovering from surgery to remove or diagnose a tumor. They might now need to decide what other treatment to get, too.

Relatedsearches

When you start to talk about treatment options, it's very important that you:

• Know all treatment options
• Talk about the details of each treatment option with your cancer care team
• Learn as much as you can and understand the information being given to you
• Are a partner with your doctor in making treatment decisions and planning your care

How your cancer care team determines your treatment options

Depending on the type of cancer, you might have a very limited number of treatment options, or you might have many. Your cancer care team uses established treatment guidelines to figure out what treatments should be offered to you. These treatment guidelines are based on research and are used all over the country. They use information about your tumor and your health to guide the cancer care team in knowing what treatment or treatments are recommended for your type and stage of cancer. If you want to know more about treatment guidelines, you can talk to your cancer care team about what guidelines they use to give you treatment options.

The treatment options you’re offered might be different from the options offered to someone else who has the same or similar type of cancer. This is because some cancers have subtypes and features that might have different treatment recommendations. For example, there are many types and subtypes of breast cancer and different ways to describe them. Some have special features that affect their treatment and outlook. There are also patient factors that tell the cancer care team what options may or may not work best, such as other health problems.

Relatedsearches

Doing your own research

Your cancer care team will teach you about your treatment options. But, there’s lots of information about cancer treatments available from other sources, too. There’s also a lot of misinformation out there. You might find out information on the internet, by talking with family and friends, by going to a support group, or even by watching TV. It’s very important to be careful about where you’re getting information. Pay attention to who is sponsoring the website or advertisement, or who is giving the information you find or hear.