As new information about the biology of good cancer emerges, treatments will be developed and modified to increase effectiveness, precision, survivability, and quality of life.

For this reason, the pathologist will examine the surgical specimen to determine if a margin of healthy tissue is present, thus decreasing the chance that microscopic cancer cells are left in the patient.

In addition to removal of the primary tumor, surgery is often necessary for staging, e.g. determining the extent of the disease and whether it has metastasized to regional lymph nodes.

[11] In current usage, the term "chemotherapy" usually refers to cytotoxic drugs which affect rapidly dividing cells in general, in contrast with targeted therapy (see below).

For this reason, bone marrow, or peripheral blood stem cell harvesting is carried out before the ablative part of the therapy, to enable "rescue" after the treatment has been given.

Targeted therapy, which first became available in the late 1990s, has had a significant impact in the treatment of some types of cancer, and is currently a very active research area.

Targeted therapy can also involve small peptides as "homing devices" which can bind to cell surface receptors or affected extracellular matrix surrounding the tumor.

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a ternary treatment for cancer involving a photosensitizer, tissue oxygen, and light (often using lasers[13]).

[17] Targeted therapies under pre-clinical development as potential cancer treatments include morpholino splice switching oligonucleotides, which induce ERG exon skipping in prostate cancer models,[18] multitargeted kinase inhibitors that inhibit the PI3K[19] with other pathways including MEK[20] and PIM,[21] and inhibitors of NF-κB in models of chemotherapy resistance.

[22][23][24] Cancer immunotherapy refers to a diverse set of therapeutic strategies designed to induce the patient's own immune system to fight the tumor.

Cancer vaccines to generate specific immune responses are the subject of intensive research for a number of tumors, notably malignant melanoma and renal cell carcinoma.

Under normal conditions, the immune system utilizes checkpoint proteins as negative feedback mechanisms to return to homeostasis once pathogens have been cleared from the body.

Although the side effects from hormone therapy vary depending on the type, patients can experience symptoms such as hot flashes, nausea, and fatigue.

In particular, irinotecan inactivation of TOP1 was synthetically lethal with deficient expression of the DNA repair WRN gene in patients with colon cancer.

In general, doctors have the therapeutic skills to reduce pain including, chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting, diarrhea, hemorrhage and other common problems in cancer patients.

Cancer pain can be associated with continuing tissue damage due to the disease process, or the treatment (i.e. surgery, radiation, chemotherapy).

Issues such as the social stigma of using opioids and health care consumption can be concerns and may need to be addressed for the person to feel comfortable taking the medications required to control his or her symptoms.

The typical strategy for cancer pain management is to get the patient as comfortable as possible using the least amount of medications possible, even if that means using opioids, surgery, and physical measures.

Historically, doctors were reluctant to prescribe narcotics to terminal cancer patients due to addiction and respiratory function suppression.

Almost 60% of cancer survivors experience insomnia, and if it is not treated properly it can have long term effects on physiological and physical health.

It has been shown that yoga, water exercise, and pilates can improve the emotional well-being and quality of life of breast cancer survivors.

[52] Untreated cancer will prove terminal, and sometimes a choice is made to forgo treatment and its unpleasant side effects, and opt instead for hospice care.

Hospice care aims to provide support for the person's medical, emotional, social, practical, psychological, and spiritual needs.

Enzyme linked lectin specific assay or ELLSA Archived 13 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine has been proven to directly detect melanoma derived exosomes from fluid samples.

In a journal that analyzed multiple studies testing racial disparities when treating colorectal cancer found contradicting findings.

The US Veterans Administration and an adjuvant trial found that there was no evidence to support racial differences in treating colorectal cancer.

The cause of these disparities is generally that African Americans have less medical care coverage, insurance and access cancer centers than other races.

[66] The location of the health care facility also plays a role in why African Americans receive less treatment in comparison to other races.

[74][75][76] Stigma in cervical cancer was predominantly driven by fear of social judgment and rejection, self-blame, and shame, with notable negative influences from gender and social norms, as both human papillomavirus infection and cervical cancer were stigmatized due to the perception that they arise from reckless behavior such as having multiple sexual partners or neglecting screening.

[78] Resilience in context of cancer treatment is patient's physiological and psychological capacity to effectively adapt, recover, and maintain optimal functioning in the face of the medical challenges.