If you or a loved one have been diagnosed with cancer, you may be ready to look into treatment options. You might have many questions, or you may just be wondering what questions to ask. Here's a general overview of treatment options as outlined by the American Cancer Society (ACS) and the National Cancer Institute (NCI), along with suggestions of where you can find more information.

According to the ACS and NCI, there are three or four main categories of treatment, and a variety of complementary and alternative treatments. The main categories are:

Surgery
Surgery is the oldest form of cancer treatment. There are many different reasons why surgery is used for cancer, and they include:

• preventive
• diagnostic
• staging (finding the extent of)
• curative
• debulking (removing part of the tumor)
• palliative (to correct a problem that is causing discomfort)
• supportive (to help with other types of treatment)
• restorative

Various surgical techniques are options for each of these types of surgeries.

Radiation Therapy
Ultramodern technology makes radiation therapy a valuable option for cancer treatment. Half of all people with cancer will receive some form of radiation during their treatment. Like surgery, radiation treatment will be planned specifically for you and the type of cancer you have.

Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy simply means taking medicines to treat cancer. You might take these medicines before or after surgery, with radiation, or you might take only the medicines. Chemotherapy has been helping people since the 1950s. These medicines have been tested many times, and careful research shows they work.

Immunotherapy
The three most common ways to treat cancer are the three just mentioned above, but the ACS says that immunotherapy is now sometimes regarded as the "fourth way" to treat cancer. Immunotherapy means simply stimulating a body's own natural defenses, the immune system (by way of vaccines, antibodies, and more) to fight the cancer.