The treatment of cancer is a personalized decision determined by the patient and care team using evidence-based medicine and national/international guidelines. To determine the best treatment options, a multidisciplinary team made up of a medical oncologist, surgical oncologist, radiation oncologist, interventional radiologist, dietician, therapist, palliative care physician, and/or others may aid in the care of a patient with GI cancer.
The multidisciplinary team works early on to establish what kind of cancer a patient has, the stage of the cancer and where it has spread. Based upon this information, the team will determine if the goal of treatment is curative or palliative. While palliative care can be helpful no matter what the goal of treatment is to aid in symptom management, palliative treatment is an approach aimed at optimizing quality of life and relieving symptoms without a focus on the cause of the symptoms or its treatment. The multidisciplinary team will work together to come up with the best treatment plan for each patient using the following modalities of treatment:
Chemotherapy – Medicines that destroy cancer cells and stop their ability to grow
Targeted therapy – Drugs that are targeted at specific genetic pathway mutations that may be important for a given cancer’s growth and survival. This type of treatment blocks the growth and spread of cancer cells while limiting damage to healthy cells
Immunotherapy – Immunotherapy is a category of anti-cancer therapy that works by enlisting the body’s immune system to help detect and destroy cancer cells
Surgery – Surgery helps patients with localized cancers that have a chance to be cured by surgically removing the cancerous area(s)
Radiation therapy – Radiation therapy uses powerful beams of energy to destroy localized cancer cells and prevent them from growing. The beams can come from X-rays, protons or other sources
